MEDICAL LAKE, Wash. — The Inland Northwest finally received the rain it desperately needed, but the timing couldn’t have been worse for families planning fall activities.
Heavy rain forced Rusty Truck Ranch to close Sunday, turning away hundreds of visitors during one of the pumpkin patch’s busiest weekends.
Owner Jamie Clark shut down the West Plains attraction as steady rain turned the grounds muddy and unsafe for families.
“Yeah. We got rained out today. Yup,” Clark said.
The closure hit during a critical revenue period for the ranch, which has operated since 2018.
“Usually, this weekend and the next are like our busiest weekends. So uh, that is definitely a bummer that this weekend, got some bad weather,” Clark said.
The ranch typically draws over 1,200 visitors on good weather days. Families come for pumpkin picking, apple cider donuts, and the petting zoo.
“If we had good weather, we’d have, over a thousand people on the farm. So somewhere around like, 1200 people would come through in a day,” Clark said.
The decision to close wasn’t taken lightly, but Clark said the muddy conditions would have created problems for families.
“The fewer people that we have come through today, the better the ground will be next weekend,” Clark said.
The rain provided benefits after weeks of dry conditions. The ranch had been covered in dust before Saturday’s downpour.
“With a little bit of moisture, I think our ground will be actually better next weekend,” Clark said.
The closure gave the Clark family time to restock and prepare for next weekend.
“We’re so busy that it takes us several loads of pumpkins to get us kind of stocked up. And so, I was like, or we could go do that today. And I was like, or we could, like, take a nap,” Clark said.
The ranch plans to reopen on Friday.
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