Photos by Justin Cook | The Roanoke Times

The Sinkland Farms Pumpkin Festival features hay rides (shown), corn mazes, barnyard animals and home cooking provided by Auburn United Methodist Church.

Robert Jones and daughter Kami, 1, pick out a pumpkin from the children's patch at Sinkland Farms.

Susan Sink (center, standing) gives safety instructions before a hayride to pick pumpkins at Sinkland Farms.

Dalton Slone, 1, pets a goat at Sinkland Farms.

| Mary Hardbarger

mary.hardbarger@roanoke.com, 381-1679

RINER -- Susan Sink has the pumpkin business down to an exact science.

Every fall for 15 years, the annual Sinkland Farms Pumpkin Festival -- a family tradition Sink started with her husband, Henry -- highlights the community.

Sink, sporting a bright-orange hooded sweatshirt on a cold and blustery day this fall, rallied her volunteers eagerly awaiting the arrival of preschoolers. It was the first field trip of the season.

Despite the frigid weather and the many phone calls, Sink remained calm and collected -- she had obviously done this a time or two before.

From the pumpkins to the animals to the food provided by a local church, every aspect of the festival is covered, and that's the way she likes it, she said.

"That's why it's a success," she said.

But the road to the now-booming business wasn't without heartache.

Death shocked community

There were sleepless nights, torrential downpours -- such as the one that hit opening day of the festival in late September -- and pain and heartache that still manages to bring tears to Sink's eyes.

In 1980, Sink and her husband purchased a working dairy farm from Edwin and Edna Keith and renamed it Sinkland Farms. They soon discovered the unforgiving nature of the dairy business.

"It's not kind to your heart, your soul or your pocketbook," Sink said.

In the late 1980s, the couple started to diversify the farm, venturing into the U-pick strawberries and blueberries business and, later, Christmas trees.

After attending a pumpkin festival in Catawba in 1993, the Sinks decided pumpkins were for them.

The farm's ideal location -- resting between Radford University and Virginia Tech -- and the Sinks' determination led to the first pumpkin festival at Sinkland Farms in 1994.

Over the years, the festival, along the number of visitors, began to grow. Last year, more than 35,000 people took part in the farm's many festivities, including hay rides, corn mazes, barnyard animals and home cooking provided by Auburn United Methodist Church.

Everything was looking up for the event and the family, until tragedy struck on May 13, 2007.

Henry Sink, the anchor of the festival and prominent figure in the community, was killed in a motorcycle crash.

His death left the Sink family and the community in a state of shock.

Kathy Hale, pastor of Auburn United Methodist Church, said she saw Henry Sink in church on Sundays and recognized his gift with people.

"Henry was a man of abundant life," she said. "He was a wonderful father and husband and steward of the land."

Hale said that Henry Sink saw no race, and, therefore, touched many lives.

"He could transcend through any and all boundaries and would reach out to anyone, especially children," she said.

Although the thought of leaving the farm and ending the festival went through Susan Sink's mind many times after her husband's death, she said, her passion for agriculture and for carrying on his legacy kept her going.

"Susan is a very dedicated and creative person," Hale said. "She's working to keep her husband's dream alive."

Additions to the festival

Today, you can find Sink running around the farm, tending to the animals, the decorations and the 10 acres bearing approximately 15,000 pumpkins every fall.

The time spent on the farm and with her family and support from the community are helping her heal, Sink said.

"I think it's probably those little 'live' pumpkins running around the farm each weekend that gives her that spark," Hale said. "After a great loss like that, it takes time to heal, but the fruit of the land and Henry's love are always present."

Despite bad weather for the fall opener, Sink said she is optimistic that this year's 16th annual festival will bring in 35,000-plus visitors.

New to the festival is the pumpkin-catapulting Team Carbo from Raleigh, N.C. The group members will attempt to beat their own championship record for distance in flying pumpkins on Oct. 17-18.

"I'm always looking for new features to enhance the festival," Sink said.

And Sink and her children will continue to enhance and provide the family-fun event for years to come, she said.

"As long as there's a Sink, there will be a Sinkland Farms," she said.

To Sink, the farm was her husband's vision of providing an entertaining and educational experience for everyone. It was his desire to preserve agriculture that sparked life into the festival.

"Over the years, agriculture has lost its appeal ... it's lost its energy ... it's lost its excitement," Sink said.

"Agriculture is part of the heritage of this country, and we need to appreciate it," she said. "That's what Henry would have wanted."