The unseasonably hot October sun that beamed down on Larriland Farms made it feel like midsummer, and some produce pickers who had come to peruse the farm's pumpkins moved about briskly.
Brynne Mellady, a 23-month-old girl from Woodstock, didn't seem to mind the heat, however. Her parents had brought her to the Woodbine farm for her second Halloween pumpkin -- the first to be chosen by her.
She moved slowly between rows of pumpkins and then spotted one to her liking, a bright-orange sphere almost the size of a volleyball. Her father helped her pick it up from the bin, and then she cradled it like a doll.
It appeared that the search was over. Brynne's father, Matthew, watched as she held onto the pumpkin, seemingly with no intention of letting go.
"You want to get that one, sweetie?" he asked.
"No."
Thus continued the Mellady family's search for the perfect pumpkin.
Matthew, an attorney for the federal government, walked alongside Brynne with a camcorder while her mother, Boi, director of development at Johns Hopkins Hospital's department of surgery, followed with a camera.
Together, they enjoyed an afternoon that was more involved than Brynne's first encounter with a Halloween pumpkin.
That was last year, when Boi purchased a small baby boo pumpkin from a grocery store.
This year, the Melladys were primed to begin a family Halloween tradition of inviting the neighbors and their children -- many of whom are Brynne's age -- for an evening of carving jack-o'-lanterns and roasting pumpkin seeds.
Matthew and Boi have vivid, if contrasting, memories of their childhood experiences with All Hallows Eve.
For Matthew, carving Halloween pumpkins was a big event during his growing-up years in Indiana.
"I'm one of five siblings," he said, "and it was always a big deal to go out and find the right pumpkin and have a family pumpkin-carving evening."
Boi had a much different recollection. She lived in England until her family moved to Indiana when she was 10. At the time, she and her family knew nothing about the United States' Halloween tradition.
That is, until they arrived in the U.S. on Halloween night.
Just as the family were settling in their home, they were visited by a group of youngsters dressed in weird outfits who all yelled in a rapid-fire sound, "Trickortreat!"
"My parents didn't understand the concept of knocking on doors and didn't understand what they said, so they closed the door," said Boi, laughing.
