The farmers’ association in Miaoli County’s Zaociao Township (造橋) is asking visitors not to touch the pumpkins at a local tourist attraction, saying it could damage all of the pumpkins in the area.
Every year, local farmers plant nearly 1,000 pumpkins on a bridge above the township’s Longsheng Lake (龍昇湖), forming what locals refer to as a “pumpkin tunnel.”
The roughly 300m tunnel, which is home to more than 100 pumpkin species, attracts many visitors from out of town each year.
Photo: Cheng Ming-hsinga, Taipei Times
The township office has also hosted an annual pumpkin festival for 12 consecutive years to promote the local produce.
However, association members recently discovered that writings and drawings had been carved onto some of the immature pumpkins on the bridge.
Association director Peng Sen-hua (彭森華) said he fears that the graffiti could make the pumpkins more vulnerable to disease or even cause diseases to spread, thereby affecting the whole area.
The pumpkins have just begun to flower and are still very fragile, he said.
Although the association has put up signs along the bridge asking visitors not to carve the pumpkins or break the vines, some people have chosen to ignore them.
The association said it receives reports of pumpkin damage almost every day.
Visitors are welcome to observe the pumpkins with their eyes, but not use their hands, Peng said.
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