Era’s End: Thanks, Dollie and Lynn Rasmussen

In this estate sale, the owners are very much alive, and active in the community, but what they are selling is not a collection of belongings that have been private and out of view.

Dollie and Lynn Rasmussen are selling things that many of us will recognize and remember from the venerable Pumpkin Funland and Corn Maze: props and cutouts, wagons, holiday décor, lights, “old horse stuff,” signs, baskets, books and much more. These objects were part of the community for many years.

Which leads to this opportunity to give the Rasmussens a message:

Thank you very much for showing the community — really, the world — such a wonderful time.

If you are unfamiliar with Rasmussen Farms, for more than a generation this Pine Grove farm provided a fun and enriching farmland experience for people from all over. Kids of all ages enjoyed Pumpkin Funland, whimsical arrangements of pumpkins and other gourds and produce decked out in costumes and props, following themes such as book or film titles, holidays, historical figures, and mythical creatures. Every year it was something different, and the same with the Corn Maze located 100 yards away: you would enter one gate and, be it the Land of Oz or the world of Beatrix Potter or, famously, Harry Potter, visit stations with carefully painted signs and small, intricate dioramas that progressively told that year’s story, all in the shelter of 15-foot corn stalks.

You could view all of this for free, though most people usually left with at least a few bags of produce or handmade items, and in October, a pumpkin or two from the large u-pick fields (wheelbarrows provided). In August, the Rasmussens and the Millings, who leased the farm for a few years until 2014, celebrated Van Gogh Days, with a field full of 40 varieties of the sunflower. They welcomed customers, but they also encouraged people to come just to take photos of these towering yellow beacons.

Rasmussen’s was a nationally recognized attraction, located smack in some of the prettiest farmland in the country. You could park and enjoy the scenery and the stories-in-gourds for as long as you liked, with music and other amenities on many summer and autumn weekends. The benches and the multi-colored metal scalloped chairs were always a place of rest and comfort.

Thank you again, Dollie and Lynn, for all your gourd works.