Jordan Beck | Daily Press Kevin Jones inspects pumpkins at a stand in front of the Delta Plaza Mall Thursday.

ESCANABA — Halloween is just weeks away, and many people in the area will be buying pumpkins to decorate their homes for the holiday. However, the local growing season has been difficult for a number of crops, and pumpkins are no exception.

MSU Extension Field Crop Educator Jim Isleib said, while pumpkins have been growing in the Upper Peninsula this year, they are naturally a warm-season crop. As a result, they were likely affected by the rainy, cool weather seen across the U.P. this spring.

“That cold weather we had in June would’ve held them back,” he said.

Because of this, Isleib did not believe 2019’s growing season will prove to be ideal for pumpkins in the U.P.

“I would assume that it’s going to be average at best — maybe not as good as usual this year,” he said.

This has been the case for John Arvan, who grows pumpkins at his farm in Bark River and sells them at a stand in front of the Delta Plaza Mall.

“It was below average. It was a little cold and wet in the spring … and then it dried up,” he said of the growing season this year.

He said his yield of pumpkins for 2019 was down by approximately 30 percent.

However, Arvan said the pumpkins grown on his farm this year have been “good” in terms of quality. Furthermore, the stand has not had supply issues so far this fall.

“Whenever I sell out, I sell out,” he said.

Normally, the stand is done selling pumpkins in the third week of October. Arvan expects this to be the case again in 2019.

According to Arvan, business has been strong at his pumpkin stand.

“(There’s) a lot of return customers every year — happy to see them,” he said.

The stand has been operating in its current location for about seven years. Before then, Arvan sold pumpkins outside of his home in Gladstone.

Arvan thanked his customers for their support over the years.

“(I) appreciate it,” he said.

He also said he is already making plans for 2020’s pumpkin season. Next year, he may plant more pumpkins as a way of offsetting potential difficulties with the growing season.

“I’ll probably just put in an extra acre — you know, just in case,” Arvan said.