The sight of local farmer Ron Macedo driving up to school campuses in his box truck has become one of much excitement for schoolchildren at two Turlock elementary schools.

Over the past two weeks, the Kiwanis of Greater Turlock, Macedo’s RAM Farms, and cheer teams from across the city made their annual delivery of pumpkins at Cunningham Elementary School and Osborn Two-Way Immersion Academy.

This year marks the 41st of the highly anticipated donations and deliveries made by the Kiwanians.

Osborn received 855 pumpkins for their students this year last week, while Cunningham received nearly 600 on Friday.

This year, Kiwanis members enlisted the help of cheerleaders from Stanislaus State and Turlock High School to unload the massive boxes of pumpkins and create mini patches for the children to walk through. Cheer members from a number of schools have helped in the delivery process for several years.

The tradition of delivering pumpkins began in 1984 thanks to Kiwanis lifetime member Dave Miller and his wife, Pat, who was a teacher at Cunningham Elementary for nearly 30 years. In her first year as a staff member, she suggested that pumpkins be brought over for the students to enjoy.

Miller passed away in September of 2023, but the tradition has remained strong.

“When we started this, we didn’t know how it would go, but they went along with it and we’ve been doing it ever since,” Miller told the Journal during his last pumpkin delivery in 2022. “The kids look forward to it. It’s unique because we bring the pumpkin patch to them. And seeing the looks on their faces is wonderful.”