Pumpkin Days attracts thousands to Pahrump

An annual autumn ritual attracted thousands of visitors to Ian Deutch Memorial Park over the weekend.

The 9th annual Pahrump Disability Outreach Program (PDOP), “Pumpkin Days,” came to a close on Sunday evening.

The three-day family-friendly event, according to co-founder David Boruchowitz, was an overall success, judging from the turnout within the community.

Boruchowitz also serves as a lieutenant with the Nye County Sheriff’s Office.

“I’m guessing we had at least 4,000 visitors for the weekend, which was more than usual because we are usually at about 2,900 visitors, based on wristband sales this year,” he said. “It’s been a great event and every year we always try to make it bigger and better than the previous year.”

Regarding previous PDOP events, Boruchowitz said an additional feature was added this year, much to the delight of the younger attendees.

“We talk to a lot of people each year and ask what they think of the event,” he said. “We learned that a lot of people said they wanted a carnival ride, which we have always shied away from during past events. This year the good folks at Pahrump’s Davis Amusements gave us a carnival ride and it’s been great. We also added the hay slides this year which has been a huge hit, and those were donated as well.”

Boruchowitz also gave praise to those who volunteered their time to help host the event, including Pahrump Valley High School students, and members of the Pahrump Kiwanis Club.

“The volunteers play a huge role in this event each year, for the setup and takedown,” he said. “We use about 40 volunteers each day, and all day, and throughout the entire event, we cycle through about 300 volunteers, most of which are youth. This has been a great event, as usual. We obviously aim to be the old-fashioned pumpkin patch, and every year we definitely meet that.”

As always, the popular “Monster Dash,” 5K run was held on Saturday morning, with roughly 100 participants joining in.

Boruchowitz said he and other PDOP officials are already looking forward to next year’s event.

“This has really evolved over the years and now we are looking at 10 years next year,” he said. “We are mulling over our options on how we can make it a very special 10-year anniversary event. I’d also like to give a special thanks to the community because obviously, we could not do this without them. We anticipate the 10th year will be huge.”

All proceeds from the event benefit the PDOP program.

As stated on its website, the Pahrump Disability Outreach Program is a local, small non-profit organization dedicated to the support of children with disabilities and their families.

The program also concentrates on education of the community regarding disabilities.

PDOP was actually founded by two parents who have disabled children.

Not long after the children were diagnosed with their impairments, the parents learned that there were no local support organizations in the Pahrump Valley.

Both parents vowed not only to make a difference for their own respective family but to other local families facing similar situations, thus PDOP was established.

For more information on PDOP, call 702-516-0847, or email to staff@pdop.info

Contact reporter Selwyn Harris at sharris@pvtimes.com, on Twitter: @pvtimes