By Ron Wilson, director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University
“Make Christmas magic.” That’s the goal of one family that is using their rural Kansas facility to create special holiday memories for kids and families.
As we have previously described, John and Shelley Gardner are the founders of Pumpkin Pants Ranch. Since 2023, they have operated their pumpkin patch in the fall on their 80 acres near Arkansas City.
“After that first year of the pumpkin patch, things had quieted down,” John Gardner said. “I asked Shelley, ‘Do you want to do Christmas?’”
They agreed to re-open their property with a Christmas theme. “We had 25 or 30 trees and it went over pretty well,” Gardner said. “We had fun doing it.”
In the years since, the Gardners have grown and enhanced the pumpkin patch and their holiday events. “We go over the top at Christmastime,” Gardner said.
Pumpkin Pants Ranch offers Santa’s Workshop the first three weekends in December. With each paid admission, guests receive access to a host of buildings and activities plus a hot drink and a baked good.
“We make our hot chocolate with milk, the old fashioned way,” Gardner said. Guests can add marshmallows, whipped cream, a candy cane, candy cane sprinkles, and gumdrops.
“It’s going to be super fun this year, with all the outdoor activities we are adding,” Gardner said. These include igloos in which people can sit and even a place for an artificial snowball fight.
“We have two-inch soft snowballs for kids to throw,” Gardner said. “It’s kind of like a paintball course with barricades where kids can hide behind.”
There is a candy store scene and a wagon background for photo opportunities. “We’ll have the Grinch and the Abominable Snowman running around in costume too,” he said.
The big barn becomes Winter Wonderland with thousands of lights and dozens of decorated trees. “We all dress up like elves,” Gardner said.
Of course, there’s the main man: Santa Claus, himself.
“We have a separate building for Santa’s Workshop where each family can have time with him,” Gardner said. Breakfast with Santa takes place on the second Saturday of December.
Then there are the Christmas lights: Thousands and thousands and thousands of them. “All of our barns are lit,” Gardner said. Guests will see nearly 60 trees, snow machines, and all kinds of Christmas displays from snowmen to reindeer to giant nutcrackers.
“We change it up every year,” Gardner said. This year the ranch is offering artificial ice skating. It uses hard, smooth plastic from an ice hockey practice rink so guests can skate in their stocking feet and don’t even need to put on skates. The rink is surrounded by hay bales encapsulated by white plastic covers so they look like giant ice cubes or blocks of ice – but they won’t freeze your bottom if you sit on them.
For kids, there will also be viewing of such vintage Christmas cartoons as Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.
Pumpkin Pants Ranch is located four miles east of Ark City and northeast of the rural community of Parkerfield, population 406 people. Now, that’s rural.
“We’re a half mile north of Highway 166,” Gardner said. “You can see our Christmas lights from the highway.”
Why do all this work? “When I was a kid, we would go to a big department store in downtown Arkansas City,” Gardner said. “On the third floor there was a place called Santa’s workshop or Toyland, and to a kid, it was magical. I want today’s kids to experience those childhood memories to treasure for a lifetime.”
“When kids walk into our Winter Wonderland, their eyes get the size of saucers and their jaws drop open. It’s fun to bring back the magic of Christmas.”
For more information, find Pumpkin Pants Ranch on Facebook.
The holidays can be a magical time. We commend John and Shelley Gardner and all those involved with Pumpkin Pants Ranch for making a difference by making Christmastime extra special for their guests.
The Gardners are striving to make Christmas magic.
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