Few people believed in Esa Ranniko’s idea – Now people drive hundreds of kilometers for a pumpkin

From Halikko Esa Rannikko has achieved many goals, but at least one still has some way to go. However, the situation already looks much better than ten years ago.

– My goal is for the Halloween pumpkin to become as common as the Christmas tree, the owner of the Ranniko garden is laughing around thousands of pumpkins – some carved, some whole.

When Rannikko first grew pumpkins in 1995, most of the harvest had to be driven into the forest. No one understood the pumpkin.

– I probably sold almost 170 kilos. Moms made pickles. Back then, few knew how to use a pumpkin, Rannikko recalls.

Now the situation is already different. Ranniko, who started pumpkin cultivation again ten years ago, is under pressure to be able to meet the demand.

But Rannikko has himself to blame for that: He came up with the idea of ​​a pumpkin park six years ago, which grows every year at the same pace as more and more pumpkins are bought in stores.

It all started when a candle was placed inside a hollowed-out pumpkin. Rannikko wanted to help a candle factory in Halikko, which suffered huge damages in a fire (later the factory had to stop its operations). The idea was to get people to buy candles.

– At first, we had pumpkins with a candle burning inside them on top of hay bales by the highway. We noticed people going crazy just for rows of pumpkins. We realized that the pumpkin is descriptive. This was invented by accident, says Rannikko.

A pumpkin park was born in Halikko, and this year, too, it gathers visitors from hundreds of kilometers away for a couple of weeks. Pumpkin Weeks is no longer just a park built at the end of strawberry land, but other local companies, associations and people have joined in as well. Pumpkin unites.

Ranniko’s pumpkin park has more than 2,300 pumpkin lanterns, all of which are lit by a candle in the evening. In total, there are nearly 10,000 pumpkins in the entire area. And every single one of them is for sale.

According to Ranniko, the free event employs more than 100 people, some pick pumpkins, some carve them, some sell them. Some of the costs are covered by the sale of pumpkins and food.

There is pumpkin in all the dishes, because the insides of pumpkins hollowed out into lanterns must of course be used. There are pumpkin donuts, muffins, rolls, dry cakes, cookies, pizzas and waffles.

– People get to taste what pumpkin tastes like and their prejudices are shaken. Maybe they will start trying pumpkin in their own cooking, thinks the omnipresent planer who supports the sellers in the pumpkin park Sini Piintilä.

The latest food invention was a pumpkin sausage developed last year in collaboration with Perniö Liha.

– It has become an incredible hit. In the evening, the sausage lines are great. The special thing about Esa is to eat it with strawberry jam. This combination is not suitable for everyone, grins Aleksi Sarin. With Ranniko’s help, Sarin makes sure that everything works in the pumpkin park.

At first, many doubted that Ranniko’s pumpkin idea couldn’t work in Finland in October. The idea was considered crazy. Few were ready to join the event. It’s different now.

– We are trying to make the pumpkin more approachable. Some will surely laugh at my craziness, some will laugh at the sculptures in the park. One way or another, people line up for coffee and sausage with smiles on their faces.

According to Ranniko, the event is also a nice change for his staff. They see the joy of people and the joy of children.

– This is going to be a positive thing. It has a big impact on autumn’s motivation.

Rannikko laughs that there is always a little resistance. According to him, there is no work without drama. But he lets out a couple of curse words, gets power again and difficulties turn into victory.

A good example is the corn maze. The spring was so difficult that Rannikko didn’t get to sow corn. Instead, the neighbor grew corn for cattle feed. In the fall, the neighbor’s tall corn was dug out of the ground with a shovel to create a corn maze in the pumpkin field.

Rannikko doesn’t admit that he watches horror movies with the eyes that would suit his pumpkin park, but he wants to mention one movie as a role model. Walt Disney Pictures’ animated film Cars.

According to him, its story is also suitable for Turku’s motor road. The new Pikitie desolates the villages along the old access road. According to Ranniko, this has also happened around Salo.

– There must be something that makes you turn on the blinker. If he blinks once, maybe he will do it a second time, Rannikko reflects.

Halikko is lively these two weeks. Rannikko believes that the pumpkin brings attraction to the village. Pumpkin makes people drive hundreds, even thousands of kilometers.

Haliko’s pumpkin weeks are still running this week on October 22. until. There will be fireworks on Sunday at 8 p.m.