Once a year, Swinging Bridges Road in Brumley comes to life for a month when The Cave Pumpkin Patch opens for four weekends to tourists and locals. The Beabout family has been working hard, making sure all of the perfect autumn seasonal touches grace the grounds for their opening on Saturday, Oct. 1. Pumpkins line fences, fill walls of buildings, and are generally everywhere the eye can see on the property. And yes, they are all for sale. Owner Mark Beabout, an electrician by trade, turns pumpkin farmer during the summer to fill the complex with his home-grown pumpkins. They expanded their four pumpkin patches on Swinging Bridges Road out to his farm at Iberia where all the small variety are now grown. “We have 15 acres at my farm we grow these on now,” Beabout said of this year’s harvest.

His daughter Victoria manages the General Store and Pumpkin Decorating Barn. His sister-in-law sits vigil on the cave greeting guests, with the tour included in the admission price. “We employ about 20 family members, friends, and even neighbors for October,” says Mark Beabout.