Southeast Idahoans fall into autumn traditions

Sunday was the first day of the fall season, and people everywhere can’t seem to escape how nearly everything will start tasting like pumpkin and cinnamon.

Not that southeast Idahoans are complaining.

In fact, most are excited to wave goodbye to the hot summer months in exchange for throwing on those coats and scarves.

“During the summertime, everyone is trying to do so much because of the warm weather,” Travis Oldham of Pocatello said. “Then when the fall hits, it changes and people realize it is time to calm down.”

“The change of the seasons is refreshing,” Mocha Madness barista Jennifer Hernandez said. “The crisp air, the change of the leaves, and everything is just new.”

The autumnal equinox began at about 2:45 Sunday afternoon when the sun crossed over the earth’s equator. This means, there are about the same number of hours during the day as there are at night.

But to most, the fall season means something a little more sentimental.

Not everyone finds household chores as an exciting part about the fall season, but that part is a luxury for a six-year-old.

“I like to rake the leaves … so I can throw them up at the sky,” Lakai Stanger, 6, said when asked what his favorite part about fall is.

And most people are never too old to enjoy the falling-leaf tradition in Idaho.

“I love it. You can’t deny that. Everyone says to go out of your way for a crunchy leaf,” Hernandez said.

“My favorite thing to do this time of the year is to drive out past Buckskin Road … some of the colors out there are unworldly,” Samuel Vineyard of Pocatello said.

Next Saturday Swore Farms will open its annual corn maze and pumpkin patch to the public.

Swore Farms owner Wendy Swore said this will be the first year they will hold a corn-eating competition.

The fall season will end Dec. 21.