When Brooke Neff began decorating her front porch for the fall, people noticed and wanted her to help them do the same. “I go all out for holidays and love decorating. So I’d decorate my porch with hay bales and pumpkins and all that stuff,” shares Brooke. “My neighbors would see my porch or the inside of my house and think it was cute. They would ask me to decorate theirs and I would also decorate for family. It became something that I enjoyed doing because I loved the way it looked and the way it made me feel. It grew organically from there.”
Three years ago, Brooke officially launched Howdy Pumpkin and now she gets to share her creative designs and festive enthusiasm with area home and business owners by decorating porches, storefronts, building entrances, photo booths, and more. Brooke works with each client to create displays based on the space available and her client’s preferences. “Every single porch is different. Whether there are steps or it's flat; whether it's a sprawling porch or a tiny porch, it challenges me every time,” she says. “But I love that I start with a blank canvas and get to create something unique and special every single time I step up.”
Each custom design begins with a conversation with the client on what they love and want to express through their porch décor. “Everybody has different stylings and I want their ‘wow’ factor to be exactly what they want,” explains Brooke. “Some people like spooky stylings in the fall and other like a pretty, picturesque, magazine-worthy fall porch. From there, we talk about adding mums or hay bales for texture and whether they want layers of elevation, which sets up this cascading pumpkin look that creates a really full display.”
Brooke sources the pumpkins used in her displays from west Texas, where she was born and raised. “I have a soft place in my heart for the panhandle where there are lots of farms. I am also very familiar with Floydada, which is supposedly the pumpkin capital of the world,” she says. “So I reached out to a farm there, Assiter Pumpkin Ranch, and that’s where I get my pumpkins.”
Brooke values being part of the local community and prioritizes having a positive impact through her work. One way Brooke gives back to the community is by donating her time and resources to decorate the marquees at elementary schools in Argyle. Another way is through upcycling pumpkins once fall is over. “I offer a couple of clean-up options and when I go pick up pumpkins, I keep them out of the landfill,” she explains. “I partner with Keep Argyle Beautiful, which collects pumpkins to donate to different 4-H farms. I also partner with local communities that have livestock and give them pumpkins because cows, longhorns, and horses love them.”
As Howdy Pumpkin has grown, Brooke’s family has become an important part of the business. “They love to see my dream and my vision come to life and I think they secretly like it, too,” says Brooke. “They are definitely the workhorses helping with loading my wheelbarrows and trailers, which allows me to focus on designing custom porches and strategically placing the decorations.”
Howdy Pumpkin is a locally owned and family operated business. For more information and to view a gallery of work, visit howdypumpkintx.com and follow Howdy Pumpkin on Facebook and Instagram. Also check out Howdy Holiday, Brooke’s companion company that provides decorations for winter holidays.