Late last summer, four Crozet-based friends found themselves discussing the upcoming fall season—prepping for a new school year, planning autumnal activities, and cozying up their home décor. For Alexis Macias, Kristen Craig, Kathleen Ross, and Marilyn Speight, the latter always starts with the porch.
“We had seen on Instagram a mom out of Texas who started offering a fall porch-decorating service for her neighborhood,” Speight says. And then they wondered: Why couldn’t they do the same thing in Charlottesville? A morning meeting at Mudhouse, and Porch Patch was launched shortly thereafter.
Here’s how it works: The group has three packages (petite for $200, classic for $300, and grand for $450) that offer varying numbers and types of pumpkins, scaled to the size of your porch. Plus, you can add on other items like mums, kale, and hay bales, and the ladies will work with your own décor to mix in pieces you already have.
Since launching, Porch Patch has made connections with local farms and nurseries like Highbrighton and Middle River, and Speight says they sold out of their limited number of spots last season—more than 40 homes in the Crozet, Charlottesville, and Richmond areas.
“People are incredibly busy and may not have the time to procure pumpkins for their porches personally, or perhaps they love the look but prefer to outsource to someone who has an eye for styling,” Speight says. “Our goal with this project was to offer any area resident the chance to bring the patch right to their front door.”
Preorders are underway (find them on Instagram @porchpatch), and installations will run through the month of October.
