Pumpkin Patch Vandals Force Family To Shut Down Business For Season
Oct 29, 2018, 1:54 PM
WEST JORDAN, Utah – A pumpkin patch in West Jordan is being forced to shut down business during prime-time selling after vandals smashed over 100 pumpkins.
The Rojas family, which owns Rojas Farms, found their pumpkin patch destroyed Sunday morning. The vandals caused at least $2,000 in lost sales and damages.
“It’s a hard hit, especially because the last week (of October) is our most popular week,” Jasmine Rojas said. “…It affected us a lot.”
Rojas Farms has been in West Jordan for more than 10 years, but this is the second year at its new location off 7800 South.
As someone who grew up in West Jordan, Rojas said she’s in shock something like this could happen in a city she knows so well.
“We just didn’t ever think this would happen to us,” she said.
The vandals did more damage than smash a few pumpkins. They stabbed pumpkins, broke decorations and impacted the Rojas’ livelihood just a few days shy of Halloween.
“They stole our little wheel barrels,” she said. “They tore down our teepees. Our sign got broken.”
As of Monday afternoon, West Jordan Police had no leads or surveillance from nearby businesses. Authorities said whomever is responsible faces criminal mischief and trespassing charges.
Rojas said this incident will have the family doing business a little differently from now on.
“We’re definitely going to invest in cameras next year,” she said. “We didn’t need them in the past, but now, with this incident, we are going to pick them up.”
Despite losing money, the Rojas family gave away any pumpkins worth keeping to customers who stopped by and were unaware of the damage to the business.
Police said a similar pumpkin patch vandalism took place a few weeks ago, and those vandals have yet to be caught. It’s unclear if these two incidents are connected.
