40,000 swarm farm for food giveaway

by The Associated Press
PLATTEVILLE - A second day of a field gleaning Sunday at a Platteville-area farm was canceled because an unexpected crowd of 40,000 people picked the farm clean a day before.

Farm owner Chris Miller says they expected between 5,000 to 10,000 people to show up Saturday to collect free potatoes, carrots and leeks left in the field after harvesting. Instead, cars snaked around cornfields and backed up more than two miles.

About 30 acres of the 600-acre farm about 37 miles north of Denver became a parking lot.

Some people also left their cars along two nearby Colorado highways to take to the field with sacks, wagons and barrels to harvest the produce.

"Everybody is so depressed about the economy," said Sandra Justice of Greeley, a technology company worker who, along with her mother and son, picked 10 bags of vegetables. "This was a pure party. Everybody's having a great time getting something for free."

Miller said they opened the family farm to the free harvest after hearing reports of food being stolen from local churches, and it was meant as a thank you for customers.

"Overwhelmed is putting it mildly," Miller said. "People obviously need food."

Weld County sheriff's deputies helped direct traffic, and the Colorado State Patrol issued citations for cars illegally parked on the side of the road.

In Lakewood west of Denver, the Jeffco Action Center helped 5,141 people who lined up early for a Thanksgiving food-box giveaway, the biggest demand in 40 years.