Celebrating Halloween, Valley Style | by Shannon Peterson

The Valley® marketing team is divided. Half of us LOVE Halloween, the other half, “meh, take it or leave it.” 

So, the Halloween enthusiasts decided to pump a little spirit into Valley Irrigation with a pumpkin-carving contest. The contest asked employees to send in a photo of their carved or decorated pumpkin or local produce. (Local produce? You’re wondering, ‘What on earth?’ We wanted to open the contest up to our international colleagues who may not celebrate Halloween. Truth be told, we didn’t get a lot of decorated produce entries.) There were three categories: most creative, scariest, and Valley-themed.

After we launched our contest, I noticed several similar competitions on Twitter, including the National FFA and the University of Minnesota. Maybe next year we’ll open the contest up to our dealers and customers. I just know that someone out there possesses the artistic skills to carve a pivot on a pumpkin.

This year, we didn’t get nearly the volume of entries we anticipated. But that’s OK because some of the submissions we did get are pretty amazing.

Here are some of the Valley-themed entries. Enjoy! 

Visit our Facebook page to see the creative and scary pumpkins.

Meanwhile, for those who were wondering, the USDA reported that there were plenty of pumpkins available for carvers this year, although crop conditions varied by region. “Wet spring weather, followed by a hot dry summer, had a negative impact on pumpkin volume in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states. Conditions in the Midwest and Western United States were much more favorable, and growers are reporting good quality and good size for their pumpkins.” (Thanks to the USDA Economic Research Service for the pumpkin report quoted here).

Have a safe and happy Halloween.

---

Shannon Peterson Marketing Content Editor Shannon joined Valley Irrigation in 2013. She enjoys traveling with her family, particularly to national parks, and she occasionally writes about her travels for Home & Away magazine. Shannon also likes reading, trying new restaurants, seeing movies, and watching Husker football and Creighton basketball. However, she and her husband spend most of their free time chauffeuring their teenage son to activities and chasing their baby daughter.