It began, as it does every August, with generosity. It has ended, as it does every August, with residents sprinting to their cars while neighbors approach holding produce the size of firewood.

The annual zucchini surplus reached what the Garden Club is calling “Phase Three” this week, defined in the club’s bylaws as “the point at which zucchini begins appearing on the property of people who did not agree to receive it.”

“I locked my car outside the market,” said resident Opal Grimsby. “When I came back there were two zucchini in the passenger seat. The car was still locked. I have no theory that comforts me.”

The Garden Club has responded by organizing a Zucchini Amnesty Table outside the library, where surplus squash can be surrendered with no questions asked. As of press time the table held 340 pounds of zucchini and one butternut squash that officials believe was left “as a test.”

Club president Fern Hollis urged calm. “The frost will come,” she said, gazing at the horizon. “The frost always comes.”