Editor’s Note: This story is part of our series “Helping Hands”, which aims to spotlight Johnson Countians doing good in the background of their community. If you have an idea for someone to spotlight in a future “Helping Hands” story, email us at stories@johnsoncountypost.com.
After its last day of spooky festivities on Friday, the Deanna Rose Children’s Farmstead will shut its gates for the season.
But that’s not when the work ends for Orrin Lovewell. Come early November, he’ll be busy packing up and winterizing the farmstead’s grounds.
He’s spent roughly the past 18 years doing so, as one of the farmstead’s longstanding volunteers. His time helping keep the wheels turning at the farmstead has garnered recognition from the Kansas Recreation and Park Association.
The farmstead has a personal tie for Lovewell
Lovewell said his desire to help out his community precedes his time in Johnson County.
Before moving to Olathe in 2007, he lived in Fort Hays, Kansas, where he participated in other community service efforts — including volunteering with a local chapter of Catholic fraternal service organization Knights of Columbus.
But after visiting the farmstead for the first time with his granddaughter, he said he sensed the place would become special to him.
“I figured out (the farmstead) was my happy place way back then,” he said.
The farmstead opens for the season on April 1, continuing until Halloween. Though there’s a quick break for the holidays, Lovewell said taking care of the farmstead is a year-round activity for him.
“I usually take about a month off around Christmas and New Year’s Day, then I miss it and start coming back,” he said. “I like to keep working and moving.”
Lovewell has spent 18 seasons at the farmstead
Lovewell got his start as a volunteer in 2007. Six years after beginning to volunteer, he took a paid position working guest services at the farmstead.
He spent six years in that position, greeting guests as they stepped onto the farmstead’s grounds. After retiring from that position in 2019, he returned to his roots as a volunteer.
These days, Lovewell spends most of his time each week helping out with various tasks. There’s a lot to do at the beginning of the spring, he said — usually starting with preparing the farmstead’s baby goats for the season after they’re born in February.
The fall tends to be especially busy too, between tasks like facilitating the farmstead’s wagon ride, building Pumpkin Hollow, and setting up for two weekends of spooky festivities at Night of the Living Farm.
“I’ve done a little bit of everything,” he said.
Half of his work happens behind the scenes, he said, but he also often gets to see the admiration on the faces of guests when they take in what he’s helped put together.
“That’s a real reward, to see all the ‘Oohs’ and ‘Ahs’,” he said.
Lovewell was recognized for his volunteer efforts
In 2023, Lovewell received the Distinguished Volunteer Award from the Kansas Recreation and Park Association. The annual award recognizes volunteers and organizations for their contributions to the state’s parks and recreation industry.
Though Lovewell remembers feeling grateful for the recognition, he said that’s not the type of recognition that he does this type of work for.
The real reward, he said, is seeing his work pay off — and getting to do it alongside the other volunteers who keep the farmstead running.
“This group is kind of like a family,” he said. “It’s great to work with a group like that.”
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