D O.
Yelp
I really wasn't going to bother with this, but the more I think about how it has ruined the last remaining weekend of Halloween for us, the more I think it's well deserved.
I booked a hayride and bonfire online, which happened to pop up on an event finder website after having browsed Fall events. Not realizing that it was a third party event organizer, as I've never been to this place ever, nor to Northville, I assumed it was akin to the drastically overpriced Wiard's orchard at which you take a hayride and get off and have a little cider and donut by the fire. At $15 per person vs $25, it sounded like quite a deal. Boy was I wrong.
Upon entrance, we were ushered a good mile to the back forty to park, with no directions and only young teenagers waving flags. I rolled down the window to ask where the party was taking place and he knew nothing. By the time we reached the front where the donut shop and country store were, we saw a ton of empty spaces. I asked one of the young workers what the deal was and he said the front lot was handicapped parking. My mother, who is 76 years old, would have appreciated parking there rather than walking all over. We had cider and donuts. The sign outside said hotdogs - somewhere, but I saw no evidence of any real food. $11 for a dozen and $9 for a half dozen. Seriously? I handed a 7 year old behind the counter (which I found neither cute nor legal) a $20 bill for the donuts and 2 coffees,and she flung the $5 in change back at me. No alternative for coffee, just plain white sugar. I ended up throwing the rest of the donuts away because they were so hot when they put them into the bag that they just flattened into a doughy pile of mush in the outside cold.
They women at the store had no clue what I was talking about and began asking who organized our event, as if I was supposed to know that. She then checked a list of events and found that ours was upstairs, which my mother was unable to climb. I went up, by that time it was at least 7 and the event had started at 6. Over loud music, the event planners told us we were the first ones there and that if we wanted, we could go on the hayride at our leisure. Why was I not surprised.
The hayride, which required walking back to the parking lot we could have parked in, consisted of several hard-as-rocks packed bales of hay as opposed to the loose, soft hay that would normally be on a wagon, combined with the driver plowing ahead at full speed, lasted probably 10 minutes at best. People were flying up off the hay and were commenting on how awful it was. No view, no decor, just a boring hayride to a corn maze and back. As we walked back toward the store, the parking lots in front were even more empty with plenty of non handicapped parents and kids heading to their cars. Skipping the bonfire, I stopped back in the store to speak with the only two adults they had on premises. No apology, not even feigned interested. She tried to blame the event planner. When I suggested she put up signs directing people where their event is, she said "we can't possibly keep up with all the events..." even though she literally had a list of events in her hand. Not hard to put a sign up that says "Bonfire party starts upstairs".
So I paid $45 for 4 donuts, 2 coffees and a hayride. These people are money makers. They do not care if you have a good time, and frankly, that goes for most of the surrounding orchards and events as well.