The Burke Nursery and Garden Center can do just about anything when it comes to the outdoors. Its staff can beautify homes, grow lawns, plant trees and help gardens produce a bounty of food. One thing they cannot do, however, is to control the weather.

The nursery’s annual Fall Festival and Pumpkin Playground is back for its 15th installment, and this year more than ever, its management is finding the rain to be a particular nuisance. According to nursery staff, the festival has been completely shut for five days already, far more than any other year since its inception.

“This year, unfortunately, we’ve lost a lot of business due to rain,” said Casandra Dickinson, Festival Manager and Nursery assistant manager. “The turnout has been great while the weather is good, but we’ve never had this much rain, ever.”

According to Dickinson, the Festival was shut down for the first time on the Saturday of Columbus Day weekend, and again for four straight days due to continuous rain two weeks ago. On Saturday, Oct. 24, the doors were kept open even though it rained, but a ceaseless mist and eventual downpour kept almost all visitors away. Though many groups that make reservations such as local schools and community centers were unaffected by the weather, Dickinson said that several, including the Key Center in Springfield, were forced to either reschedule or cancel their trips.

“Our faithful, repeat customers have bought season passes and the schools have been great with rescheduling,” Dickinson said. “But I feel bad about the schools that didn’t get to go. They’re the ones that like to come and many of them may not be able to come again.”

While the rain may have put a damper on the festivities for many groups and individuals, those who have been lucky enough to have good weather have gotten to enjoy the same Festival staples that keep more than 20,000 people coming each year. Again, guests of all ages can enjoy a hayride, pumpkin picking, seasonal food and a petting zoo, and children can fly down massive slides and jump on the moon bounce. This year, the festival also has a clown that does face painting and makes balloon animals and added a crawl maze, as well.

“We hold an event there every year because the children just love it so much,” said the Burke KinderCare’s Wataa Tohmy. “It’s so much fun, and it’s supervised, so it’s a great place for the children to go.”

Like KinderCare, many other groups have made it a point to make the Festival a field trip destination. The Nativity Catholic School in Burke, for example, has taken a field trip to the festival each year for the past several years and returned again this year. According to Wendy Loughmiller, Nativity’s learning resources director and mother of two preschoolers at the school, the festival not only provides a day of fun and entertainment for their students, but also serves as a tool to teach children, as well.

“It is an age-appropriate field trip for preschool-aged children,” Loughmiller said. “It reinforces many of the themes the children learn about this time of year and is very user-friendly for large groups.”

Though the rain may have taken a bit of wind out of the Festival’s sails this time around, Dickinson and the rest of the nursery staff are nonetheless thrilled to see the smiles on the faces of their customers, even if there are fewer this year. If the early results are any indication, they are accomplishing their goal.

“The festival is big enough for children to feel like there’s a lot to do, but it’s small enough for it to be manageable for adults,” Loughmiller said. “It’s just a ton of fun.”