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Every October brings those beautiful, orange pumpkins piled up high on the corner of Fremont and Mission Street, signaling the beginning of Halloween season. The woman behind the scenes for the past seven years, having taken over the day to day operations from Tahoe Scotty, is Anita Cagle. Known to her loyal customers as the sweet pumpkin and Christmas Tree lady with the heart of gold, many families come back year after year and now know her personally.
She says it’s not always easy as they bring their Christmas trees fresh from Oregon and their pumpkins fresh from both Oregon and Ventura to make sure they bring South Pasadena great, fresh products. But she keeps coming back for our community which she loves. She grew up in Alhambra and considers South Pasadena, Eagle Rock and Alhambra her “old stompin’ grounds” and loves being a part of it all during the holidays. Due to allergies, she now resides in the desert.
On the day we were there, she was showing around a group of special needs students, answering all kinds of pumpkin related questions, which is something you will find her doing throughout the day. She has welcomed different pre-school groups and playgroups who come and hang out and sometimes purchase pumpkins for projects. She is generously helping to supply the pumpkins for the Arts Crawl pumpkin decorating event at Hotbox Vintage this year as she has for the past two years.
I personally bought one extra large beauty that I can’t wait to display and then carve in time for trick or treaters! If you stop by, be sure to say hello to Anita and enjoy the spooky decorations and glorious pumpkins. Coming soon, Tahoe Scotty’s Christmas Trees!
