MIFFLINBURG, Pa. — There are more than 3,000 bins filled with pumpkins and gourds at the Buffalo Valley Produce Auction near Mifflinburg, and they are going to the highest bidder.
Like the yearly Christmas tree auction held here, people come from all over the east coast to buy pumpkins and other fall décor.
"A variety of pumpkins that you can get for holiday decorating, so it brings us down here. You can get various sizes, colors, textures, and that's what people are looking for, something special," said Eugene Reelick, who owns nurseries in Bethel, Connecticut.
Reelick will start to sell pumpkins next week, so this is a big shopping trip.
"More than I probably need, no, we buy a lot. We've been coming here for years, so we know what we need. We know what we sell, and it works well for us," Reelick said.
That's also the case for Danielle Bahr and her family from Hillsgrove. The family owns Becky's Ice Cream and will start selling pumpkins there this weekend.
"I got the little baby pumpkins, the big gourds, I got these funky, they have warts all over them, they're really fun looking," Bahr said.
Bahr has been coming to this auction for several years.
"It's very overwhelming. It's very intimidating at first, but once you get down there in the auction area, you just kind of look what you're looking for," Bahr said.
Unlike the Christmas tree auction, held here once a year, the pumpkin sale runs twice a week for six weeks.
Auction officials say this year's supply is good, and prices are average.