MIFFLINBURG, Pa.— The “Great Pumpkin” of “Peanuts” comic strip fame was nowhere to be found, but characterizing the Buffalo Valley Produce Auction as a great pumpkin auction is no cartoonish stretch.

The auction — designed for sales to retailers but open to the general public — sold some 150,000 pumpkins on Tuesday.

Truck after truck pulled flatbeds covered in boxes of the seasonal squash, most of it from Pennsylvania farms, through the auction area. Bidding was competitive and, at times, multiple bidders battled for the same boxes. 

The auction’s operations manager Ben Courtney said Tuesday’s auction was their biggest day yet for the year, but the auction would continue to sell the seasonal squash every Tuesday and Thursday through Halloween. 

Sales of orange pumpkins Tuesday ranged between $80 and $160 per bin, he said. Each bin holds about 100 pumpkins. Ornamental, different-colored pumpkins can sell for $120 to $300 a bin.

“We sell a lot more ornamental pumpkins now,” Courtney said. “They are much more in demand earlier in the season when people are looking for stuff to decorate with. Later in the season, orange pumpkins are more in demand when kids are looking for a pumpkin to carve.”

The auction attracts buyers from up and down the East Coast. Courtney said the auction had seen about 150 customers so far hailing from Florida to Maine.  

David Gray, of Jonestown, looks over boxes of pumpkins that were up for auction on Tuesday at the Buffalo Valley Produce Auction. His own pumpkin production has been stymied by rainfall this season. 

He made the two-hour trip to get pumpkins for the school groups that come through their patch. “We have about 400 kids come through, and I give every child a field trip pumpkin,” he said.

Cary Nalls, of Alexandria, Va., who owns a market, was among the out-of-state sellers on hand.

“They’ve got quality and variety here, it’s the place to be,” said Nalls, who has been coming to the auction for about 20 years. “There’s a lot of people here with a lot of interest. It’s expensive today. The farmers are getting good money for their stuff so far today.”

Courtney said most of the produce at the auction came from Pennsylvania. He said the auction charges a 10 percent fee on sales, or about $10 for every $100 purchased.

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