Out of their gourds to ‘deliver’ Halloween spirit

Pete Fontaine
Posted 10/22/13

Slocum Realty, located at 1229 Greenwich Avenue, has a rather unique rite of fall. In fact, the 65-year-old company that began in 1949 has two terrific traditions.

The company’s most colorful …

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Out of their gourds to ‘deliver’ Halloween spirit

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Slocum Realty, located at 1229 Greenwich Avenue, has a rather unique rite of fall. In fact, the 65-year-old company that began in 1949 has two terrific traditions.

The company’s most colorful practice took place last weekend – Saturday and Sunday to be precise – when upwards of a dozen people who ranged from owners to agents to family and friends delivered pumpkins to more than 900 Warwick homes.

“We’ve been doing this for the last five or six years,” Phil Slocum, the firm’s owner, said Saturday. “We’ll do this for three hours today and six hours tomorrow.”

Why, though, does Slocum Realty, which owns Slocum Insurance, hand out 900 pumpkins?

“It’s simply our way of saying Happy Halloween and thank you to the community that has supported us for 65 years,” Slocum said Saturday morning while loading up a trailer that was attached to his Ford SUV. “It’s also our way of giving back to a community in which we’re proud to serve and continue to do business with.”

The ritual is also fun, but not just for Slocum. On Saturday and Sunday, agents Nick Slocum, Chris Slocum, Bob DeGregorio and Jon Tetrault had “all kinds of fun and laughs while we delivered the pumpkins.”

The same held true for Aubrie Garofalo, Tom Yun, Brandon Tucker, Josh O’Donnell and David DeGregorio, who also helped put those 900-plus pumpkins on people’s doorsteps.

“This is so much fun!” exclaimed Garofalo, who had the distinction of delivering the first pumpkin to a home at 12 Shenandoah Drive in the Cowesett section of Warwick. “Look, they’ve got Halloween decorations, a graveyard … but yeah – no pumpkins.”

On Saturday, Slocum drove his SUV, with helpers taking pumpkins from whoever stood in the trailer and then scooted to different doorsteps to leave the orange beauties purchased at Morris Farms.

That scene was repeated time and again Saturday and Sunday in Cowesett, Greenwood proper and Gaspee.

Saturday morning also began at Morris Farms on Warwick Avenue, where John Morris used a mini lift, or a Bobcat, to load a skid, which had a huge container of pumpkins, to Slocum’s trailer.

“This load weighs 2,775 pounds,” said Morris, who was assisted throughout the loading process by Morris Farms Manager Paul Sullivan. And all the pumpkins were in a cardboard container that measured 39 inches high and 40 inches by 48 inches.

“We do this sort of thing every Fourth of July,” Phil Slocum said. “The colors are red, white and blue – we pass out 900 American flags in the same neighborhoods where we went this weekend. These are the areas where our agents serve the most and are closest to our office. We’d obviously like to do every home, but that would be impossible!”

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