Denver metro

An Olde Town cottage and a Candelas porch are not the same job

Arvada runs from a compact historic grid in the east to new streets climbing toward the foothills in the west, where the wind is a different animal. We deliver uncarved pumpkins and build the display on your porch, sized and staked to where you actually live.

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A Colorado porch pumpkin display running the length of a front walk near Arvada.

Olde Town porches and short front yards

The streets around Olde Town are small early houses on tight lots, a mix of brick cottages, frame bungalows and post war infill, most with a modest covered porch and a front yard you can cross in four paces. Everything is seen close up here, so proportion matters more than volume. A Little or Full build usually suits these houses better than a Fairy Tale, which can overwhelm a small frontage. We work the steps and the porch floor, keep the arrangement inside the width of the house, and use the older brick and painted timber as the backdrop rather than fighting it. Foot traffic is high in this part of Arvada through October, and displays get looked at properly rather than glanced at from a car, which rewards a tidier build.

West Arvada and the downslope wind

West Arvada is a different climate to the old grid, sitting higher, closer to the foothills and much more open. Neighborhoods like Candelas, Leyden Rock and West Woods catch downslope wind coming off the mountains, which arrives fast, warm and dry, and can run hard for hours. These are also newer streets with young trees and wide gaps between houses, so there is nothing to interrupt it. We build low and heavy out there, with the mass toward the west side of the arrangement, bales pinned, and nothing standing that does not need to. Re-staking after a strong event is a service we offer, and given how often the wind gets up on that side of the city, plenty of west Arvada customers use it at least once in a season.

Ralston Valley ranches and split levels

Between the two extremes sits a large stretch of Arvada built in the sixties and seventies, ranch homes and split levels with mature trees, a real lawn and a front door often set to one side under a low overhang. Split levels are the awkward one, because the entry sits halfway up and the steps turn, which breaks a display into two unequal halves if you are not careful. We build these as a rising line rather than a symmetrical pair, following the stairs up to the door with the largest fruit at the base. Mature trees on these streets mean shade, which is good for the pumpkins, and leaf fall, which means we set the display where you can still clear the walk.

Booking an Arvada build

Arvada is in our Denver metro zone, so delivery adds $100 anywhere in the city, east or west. Olde Town and the older streets tend to book in September, closer to when the neighborhood fills up with people out walking. West Arvada books earlier, usually August, because families out there are planning around school and want the porch settled before the season gets busy. We build in one visit, normally two to three hours depending on the package, and you do not need to be home as long as we can reach the porch. Once the display is built it is yours to keep, and we do not return to remove it. We do return to re-stake or re-stage it.

Questions from Arvada

Our house is red brick with a green door. Can you build to that?

Yes. Palette is part of the design, and Olde Town brick in particular can clash with a heavy orange build. We can shift toward white, cream and green varieties, or go fully neutral for $75 extra, which sits well against older brick and painted timber.

How long are you at the house?

Two to three hours for most Arvada builds, longer for a Fairy Tale on a complicated frontage. You do not need to be there, provided we can reach the porch and the gate is open. West Arvada builds take a little longer because of the extra staking.

Can we book one as a gift for someone else in Arvada?

Yes, and it happens regularly. We need the address, a working phone number for the recipient in case of an access problem, and confirmation that they want it. Note that bookings cannot be canceled or refunded, so it is worth checking they are happy before you book.