Floydada's Short Pumpkin Crop

Halloween is over, and the pumpkins on Texas porches this year came out of the driest summer one Floyd County agent has seen in 20 years. Friday night in Gilmer, a 40-yard touchdown scamper with 48 seconds left ended Carthage's 38-game winning streak. In Pampa, a man left the café business to go back to being a lineman, and the new owner kept his whole crew. And general deer season opens Saturday.

Floydada, county seat of Floyd County, is the Pumpkin Capital of Texas. This year it had a hard time growing them.

Mark Carroll has been the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension agent in Floyd County for 20 years, and he told AgriLife Today that 2026 is the driest year he's seen there. "We were in an extreme drought throughout the summer," he said. "No rainfall for the pumpkin crop, and it greatly affected our yields. We're down anywhere from 30%-40% across acres dedicated to pumpkins."

Every pumpkin acre in Texas is irrigated, most of it by drip line, so you'd think a dry summer wouldn't matter much. It does. "Normally, you go into a growing season, you've got some subsoil moisture, and then you irrigate, and you can have a decent crop," Carroll said. "But we went into the growing season with no subsoil moisture." Irrigation can keep a crop alive. It can't make up for a dry profile underneath.

Texas planted about 1,200 acres of pumpkins this year. That number swings between roughly 700 and 1,600 depending on the year. Growers raise more than 200 decorative and culinary varieties, aimed at Halloween and Thanksgiving. Harvest usually starts around Sept. 1. This year it wrapped up a week or two early.

Prices by the ton have held steady for three years. That sounds like good news until you remember fuel, fertilizer and labor haven't held steady. "Anytime inputs stay high, it compresses our farmers and makes profitability difficult," Carroll said. Fewer tons at the same price, with higher bills, makes for a thin year.

The town still showed up. The 39th annual Punkin Days on Oct. 10 was "a huge success," the Floyd County Hesperian-Beacon reported, with vendors from Clarendon, Smyer and Levelland.

If you've got a pumpkin left on the porch, it came from somebody who fought hard against the elements and the economy to make sure you could have it.

Last week we said we'd tell you what was in Borger's 1976 time capsule. We can't yet. Here's what we know.

Weather pushed the Hutchinson County centennial ceremony indoors to City Hall. The city dug up the old vault and buried a new capsule set to open in 2126. It holds student letters, centennial coins, T-shirts, police badges, keychains, cups, and a boxed Borger travel cup from City Manager Garrett Spradling. Judy Flanders, Borger's first female mayor, spoke at the event.

What the city hasn't said publicly is what came out of the old vault, or whether it was the 1976 capsule. If you were there and saw it opened, hit reply. We'd like to finish this story.

Carthage hadn't lost in 38 games. Friday at Jeff Traylor Stadium in Gilmer, that ended.

Aiden Thomas ran 40 yards for a touchdown with 48 seconds left to put Gilmer ahead. Carthage got the kickoff back to the Gilmer 30 and then threw four straight incompletions. Gilmer’s Kipton Neighbors ran wild, tallying four touchdowns and 241 yards on 22 carries, the Longview News-Journal reported.

"What a great job of resiliency by the defense, battling all the way to the finish," Gilmer coach Alan Metzel told the News-Journal.

It's a District 8-4A Division II game between Upshur County and Panola County, two towns that don't like losing to each other. Carthage is now 7-1, while Gilmer sits at 7-2.

Playoffs are close. If your team played Friday and we didn't list it, reply with the score and your town. We read every one.

The building at 518 N. Hobart St. in Pampa used to be Cyd's Cafe, run by Andrew Morriss. When Morriss decided to get out, he told The Pampa News he was "going to go back to being a lineman."

Pete Long bought it. He runs the Antler Cafe with his wife, Heather, and their two sons, and he kept every one of Cyd's employees.

Long learned to cook in high school at Peggy's Place. The menu has a Peggy's Pancake Sandwich, named "In Honor" of her, with her family's blessing. Some of Cyd's dishes carried over, too.

What to order: the Peggy's Pancake Sandwich.

When to go: Tuesday, 7 a.m. to 2 p.m.; Wednesday through Saturday, 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Sunday, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.; closed Monday. 518 N. Hobart St., Pampa.

This space belongs to a real Texan every week. A lineman, a nurse, a café owner, a welder — six questions, answered in their own words. Nobody rewrites them.

We struck out on a subject for this Monday, so the chair is empty. Help us fill it. Reply to this email with the name of somebody in your town who does real work and has something to say, plus one line on why. We'll do the asking. When it runs, you get the credit — first name and town.

If somebody forwarded you this, the signup is at LoneStarNation.com. It's free, it comes once a week, and that's it.

Last week we asked for youth-weekend photos. None came in, so none ran. Fair enough. It was a short window.

This week's ask: Deer season opens Saturday. Send us one photo from opening weekend, from the stand, the truck or the cleaning table, with your first name and your town. Deer or no deer. The best ones run here Monday, Nov. 9.

Replies go to [email protected].

See you next Monday.

— LoneStarNation