Fall started two weeks ago, but it felt like summer Friday at the Cal Poly Pomona pumpkin patch.
Instead of hot chocolate and a lightweight jacket, many visitors wearing shorts and t-shirts were carrying umbrellas for protection from the sun. Pomona and other parts of Southern California are under an excessive heat watch through the first weekend of October.
"It's like summer," said one woman who was at the patch with her young children. "We took a couple of little breaks by the tent, but they're just have so much fun that they don't even care."
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The pumpkin patch, part of Pumpkin Fest, has been a Cal Poly Pomona tradition for 31 years. The pumpkins are grown by students at the university about 30 miles east of downtown Los Angeles.
They don't last as long sitting in 100-degree heat, so that's why a new crop comes in daily from a nearly 40,000-crop of pumpkins. About 100 Cal Poly Pomona students were hired to help with Pumpkin Fest.
Pumpkin Fest is on from noon to 7 p.m. on Fridays, and 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekends between Sept. 28 and Oct. 27.
