The Seebach family has been growing and selling pumpkins in Flagg Center just outside Rochelle for the past 44 years.

Seebach’s Pumpkins at 5498 S. Center Road opened for the season Sept. 13. The operation was started by the late Jerry Seebach and taken over by his sons, Jeff and Scott, who now do the work with their children and help from other family members and friends. The stand has seen generations of Rochelle-area residents come out to pick pumpkins each October.

“It’s just something we’ve always done,” Jeff Seebach said. “When you’ve done it for 40-plus years, it’s something that you just do.

“The community is ecstatic that we do it every year and keep doing it. I see people who bring their families here, and I remember them as kids.”

The Seebachs grow about 10,000 pumpkins each year. Their operation has grown from just over an acre of planting to six acres. Pumpkins are planted in early June and later on in that month weeding and thinning starts and takes about three weeks. Mother Nature takes it from there, and the sales location and picking crew are readied in early September.

The pumpkin growing season this year was challenged by extremely wet, then extremely dry conditions, the Seebachs said, which resulted in the loss of about a third of their crop, especially the larger pumpkins.

But the community doesn’t have to worry about coming out to a sold-out Seebach’s Pumpkins stand this year. The brothers will purchase pumpkins and resell them if it comes to that.

“We want to make sure we have pumpkins on hand no matter what to keep people coming out and keep people coming back year after year,” Jeff Seebach said. “We don’t want to run out a week before Halloween and have people come out here and not get one. We want to make sure they come back next year. We want to make sure everyone gets a pumpkin.”

Growing six acres of pumpkins serves the Rochelle community and customers that come from the towns surrounding it. The Seebach brothers look at yields and sales numbers each year when considering their approach to the next year.

Jeff Seebach enjoys seeing families come out to the pumpkin stand each year as a family tradition and letting their kids run around and pick a pumpkin. Scott enjoys walking his dog in the mornings in his neighborhood and seeing pumpkins on doorsteps and porches.

“Fall seems to be a lot of people’s favorite season,” Scott Seebach said. “I like it. It’s my passion to grow pumpkins for the fall for people to enjoy. The community really supports us. There are a lot of customers that come out and thank us for doing it. They tell us not to give it up.”

The Seebachs look forward to families coming out to the stand this year and in years to come. The tradition that has lived on for generations of Rochelle-area families – and generations of the Seebach family – will continue to live on.

“It’s fun to see generations of families come out here for pumpkins,” Scott Seebach said. “My son and Jeff’s daughter have helped out with the pumpkin growing and sales. They’re the third generation. We did it with our dad. It’s fun to keep the family involved. We thank the community for supporting us. We’ll do it as long as we can.”