SECURITY — From before they even boarded the bus on Friday for a field trip to the historic Venetucci Farm, kindergartners had one thing on their mind. Pumpkins! Because what else is there to think about in October?

“They’ve got pumpkins on the brain,” said Billy Kinn, director of education at Catamount Institute, a nonprofit that connects Pikes Peak region preschoolers to high schoolers to the outdoors through environmental education and adventure.

“Every year, they can’t sit still; they’re so excited,” he said.

The historic farm is the place to be to carry out the great pumpkin giveaway, a well-known tradition that started in the 1950s by the late Nick and Bambi Venetucci. School children are invited to come and pick out a pumpkin to take home after they learn about farming and the environment.

“Mr. Venetucci was a really cool guy; he gave away so many pumpkins, and we all loved him,” said Kim Henry, who brought some special-needs kids to the pumpkin patch for this season’s kickoff of a related activity — a public Pumpkin Festival.

“It’s a really great way for kids to be out in nature,” she said. “A lot of kids don’t know where pumpkins come from.”

The Venetuccis have passed on — Nick died in 2004 at age 93 and Bambi in 2015 at age 85 — and life at the farm has changed, but the philanthropic couple’s desires haven’t been forgotten at their old homestead off Highway 85/87 that stretches from Security to Fountain.

“As stewards, we are ensuring Nick and Bambi’s legacy of now seven decades will stay the same and continue to be part of the community,” said Sam Clark, executive director of Pikes Peak Real Estate Foundation.

The Pikes Peak Community Foundation has been managing the 192-acre estate since it was bequeathed after Nick Venetucci’s death. In 2019, the Pikes Peak Real Estate Foundation became involved as a related entity, to hold and manage its real estate assets.

This is the first year under a new structure: the Pikes Peak Community Foundation has granted the farm to the Pikes Peak Real Estate Foundation, which is now a separate organization, according to Clark. But it still shares offices with Pikes Peak Community Foundation.

The farm will continue as it has been operating, under a conservation easement to protect it from development, he said, and all programs will remain.

A star attraction at the farm is the annual fall festival and pumpkin giveaway, now free to area kindergartners from about 40 schools. This year, about 1,600 kindergartners will take a field trip to the patch to hear Kinn from the Catamount Institute talk about how not just pumpkins come from the soil with help from air, sun, water and people. So does the food they eat and some of the clothes they wear.

Then, it’s a wiggly race to the field where pint-sized pumpkins are laid out for small hands to choose and haul away. Cries of “This one’s mine” and “Got it” rise, with big smiles all around.

The former working farm no longer grows pumpkins or produce and does not raise animals on the site.

For a while the fate of the farm was in limbo, as contamination discovered in the Widefield aquifer in 2016, from perfluorinated compounds originating from Peterson Air Force base firefighting foam, forced the farm to stop selling edible goods, which managers at the time had been selling at local farmers’ markets. Other revenue, such as educational environmental programs, also dried up.

Today, water restrictions still prevent the farm from producing food products, thus this year’s pumpkins were purchased from Milberger Farms in Pueblo.

But there are flowers galore from Gather Mountain Blooms, a separate business that leases 1.5 acres for growing and selling on a “you-pick” basis. The business also produces farm dinners, a concert series, various workshops and an annual Flower Festival.

Also this month, the Pumpkin Fest runs 9:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Fridays, and 9:30 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays through Oct. 27. Music, food, lawn games, face painting, a playground, autumn-themed photo stations, a craft fair, hayrides and of course a pumpkin patch are available. Other fall events are planned.

“They have a cool selection of pumpkins,” said mom Elaine Fleming, a member of The Mom Walk Collective in Fountain, which had seven members with their strollers and toddlers in tow.

“They’re having fun roaming around the pumpkins,” Fleming said of the children. “And we got some good coffee for us moms.”

Another festival-goer, Liz Melia, said her husband grew up coming to the Venetucci Farm when he was young, and she wanted to bring her 3 1/2-year-old daughter to experience the fun.

“She’s having a good time; she really seems to love it,” Melia said.