WAILUKU – As the families trickle in, the pumpkins diminish one-by-one. So do the honeysticks, and candy apples, but the smiles on the faces of the children don’t diminish at all. They light up.

That’s why Teena Monden and her family planted 10 acres of pumpkins this year for the Kula Country Farms Pumpkin Patch.

It’s something that’s been happening every October in Kula for the last 20 years.

“This year we opened up early, we did it on the 29th because Halloween falls in the middle of the week,” Monden said of the pumpkin patch this year. “It’s the first year we have opened in September and this year we are going to go all the way to the 31st.”

You can find Teena and her niece Teizie Tamashiro working the candy booth in the corner of the pumpkin patch surrounded by patrons buying pumpkins, edible squashes, and other candy favorites.

Pumpkins are priced by size, starting at $1, $5, $10, $15, $20 and up. There’s also an assortment of edible squashes and gourds that line the walkway leading to the pumpkin patch.

“We’ve been doing the pumpkin patch for about 20 years,” Monden said. “We started off at our home in our yard. Then it got a little bit too big and our neighbors weren’t too fond of it, so we moved it and it has grown from there.”

A customer approaches Monden and asks her if this is where he can pay for pumpkins and how much they are. She points to the sign that shows the price per size of pumpkin and her niece instructs them to grab a cart and pick out any pumpkins they’d like from the estimated 50,000 carving pumpkins available to the public this year.

“The edibles are priced a little bit higher because they are food,” Monden said. “After the pumpkin patch, we bring those up to the farm store and they go for Thanksgiving.”

The sales generated during the Kula Pumpkin Patch supports the family farm, Monden said. The next event the Mooden’s will put on is the Strawberry U-pick in February next year.

“It’s good, especially when the kids have nothing to do,” one dad said after posing for a photo with his family at one of the many photo props at the patch. “Overall, it’s a good thing to have something to do.”

The Kula Pumpkin Patch at the Kula Farms is open every day until Oct. 31 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. with gates closing at 3:45 p.m. The cost of admission for the patch is $5 with three and under free.

Drinks and snacks will be available during the week with entrees available during the weekend.

In addition to carving pumpkins, edible squashes, and decorative gourds, the patch has sunflowers and carving tools and accessories for sale.