Beloved Livermore pumpkin patch continues without namesake founder

Losing a parent is never easy, especially when that parent had a profound impact on her community. Joan Madsen was integral to hers, having hosted thousands of children every year at her namesake pumpkin patch outside of Livermore.

Many were devastated when the 82-year-old died earlier this year, especially her daughter Annie and son Dave, who have been tasked with carrying on their mother’s work at Joan’s Farm and Pumpkin Patch.

It’s been no easy feat for Annie Warner, who works full time at a research facility and owns her own ranch (which has suffered massively from this year’s drought). Many feared the pumpkin patch wouldn’t open this fall, but on Oct. 1, Annie and Dave opened the doors for the 32nd time. It is their mother’s legacy, after all.

Joan was born in Oakland and moved to Livermore as a teenager. Her husband Louie grew up across the street from the site they would eventually settle on, and in 1989, Joan and her neighbor Wanda Finn decided to open a small fruit stand on the property.

“Mom had the land and Wanda was the green thumb,” Annie says. “My grandfather kept telling her she had a goldmine on her hands and that she should open a fruit stand, so she finally did. It started out as weekends only and then eventually grew. They started to open six days a week and hired seven people. Wanda retired, and it eventually became Joan’s about 25 years ago.”

The family now employs 20 people and has welcomed over 3,000 visitors so far this month, 900 of them on one day alone.

Demand has shot up so much over the years that the patch had to start buying its pumpkins from an outside source.

“Last year we had four truckloads of pumpkins delivered with about 70 bins in each. There’s usually about 200 little pumpkins in a bin or 12 big ones. One year we sold 180 tons of pumpkins,” Annie says. “And it all started as just a little pumpkin patch under an oak tree.”

Livermore resident Merry Carter couldn’t count the number of pumpkins her family has bought at the patch. She first took her daughters to visit when they were babies, and it was a highlight every year for the girls, now age 27 and 29. So much so that they still go back every October.

“They still go as adults. We were there last year with some of their friends, and they had their pictures taken with the ‘How Tall Are You This Fall’ sign. I have a collection of all their photos in front of that sign from over the years. And now I have a grandson who is 2 months old, so we’re going to go get his photo taken with it this weekend,” Merry says.

“The patch really gave the community an opportunity to see where their food comes from. Joan would have little programs there for kids to show them how it all starts from the dirt. She was always just so friendly and warm and so upbeat. Everyone was very sad when she passed, but we were so happy to hear that the family was going to hold on to her legacy.”

Annie and her husband Roy started helping out in the business about 20 years ago but Joan was in charge of everything that went on behind the scenes.

There’s a lot more to running the patch than just setting up some scarecrows. Pumpkin orders need to be placed in May, reservations start to rush in around August, and there are hay rides, vendors and games to organize; pumpkin bowling was Joan’s personal favorite. The patch was where she thrived.

“She loved it. She’d go down to the sweets and treats building to cover breaks and everyone would run up her going, ‘You’re THE Joan?’ She loved talking to people,” Annie says.

“And she was there right until the end. It’s hard not having her there this year. I have good days and bad days. But I told her I would give it at least one more year.”

With the support of her brother Dave, son Austin, sister-in-law Becky, cousins, friends and longtime friend Freddy Schoorl, Annie is fulfilling her promise. The patch will be open all the way up until Oct. 30, and even though Annie is planning to wind down the business eventually, it might not be time to lock up the gates just yet.

“We’ve put a lot of maintenance into the buildings, so I don’t see how this could be the last year. I’m 95% positive that we will go again next year. It’s my mom’s legacy so I have to keep that in mind.”