One of SF’s most troubled neighborhoods brings a pumpkin patch to its children

CHILDREN FROM SAN FRANCISCO’S TENDERLOIN ate pizza, jumped in a bouncy house, got their faces painted and scooped up bags of candy Wednesday during the neighborhood’s first ever pumpkin patch festival.

The Tenderloin neighborhood near City Hall is among San Francisco’s most troubled, rife with open drug use and homelessness. But it also has the highest concentration of kids in San Francisco, an estimated 3,000 children from largely immigrant families.

The idea for the event came from parents served by nonprofit Compass Family Services. They suggested a field trip to a pumpkin patch for Halloween, said Erica Kisch, the group’s CEO.