Marilen R.
Yelp
The pumpkin festival here exceeded my expectations. I read some reviews saying it was more of a commercialized carnival, but my family and I stuck with the "farm activities" and had a great time. We arrived around 11am on a Sunday which was a perfect time as it was not overly crowded yet. The masses descended around 1pm.
Entrance is $10 pp, 2 and under are free. Since I am a couponer, I found a coupon online on valpak for 1/2 price tickets for up to 2 tickets. Score! The fee includes most of the farm activities such as the hayride, corn maze, petting zoo, hay maze plus lots of activities for the kiddies. The carnival rides are extra, which we skipped.
We started off with the hayride which takes you to the gigantic u-pick pumpkin patch. Get on this early, since by 12pm, the line was fairly long. I was really impressed. This is a bone fide pumpkin patch where you'll find pumpkins attached to the vine. (I've seen other artificial patches where the pumpkins are just placed in a field. Lame.) There were tons of pumpkins of various sizes and types. The pumpkins are extra but only $.59 lb. Roaming through the pumpkins and finding the perfect one was our favorite activity of the day.
Past the carnival section is a wide open field with all the farm activities and animals. Great place for those who have young kids, who need to burn some energy. My toddler loved the hay maze, the hay obstacle course, and vortex tunnel.
As for the food, you'll find the typical carnival junk food. We did find a stand that sold sandwiches with grilled chicken or pulled pork which were decent. However, what you need to do is to go into the farm market. Here, I found the BEST APPLE CIDER DONUTS and FRESH APPLE CIDER. The donuts were warm and fresh, oh so good! I bought a 1/2 gallon of apple cider for just $3.99. Outside, a cup of cider is about the same price.
Overall, this is a great festival to visit with kids during the fall, plus on the ride there you'll see some nice foliage along the way. Really gets you into the spirit of the season.