This epic pumpkinpalooza is celebrating its 50th year, which began with the farmers planting a few pumpkins and inviting schoolkids to come see. Since then, this working farm has grown the event which incorporates (they say), the ‘largest u-pick pumpkin field in the world.’ There’s a petting zoo, 24-inch gauge train rides with a diesel locomotive, and hayfield rides out to the pumpkin field – as well as a carousel, corn maze, an on-site bakery, a ‘Run Your Gourd Off’ 5k, a Coyote Mountain Mine where kids can collect marbles as they climb and then slide down the ‘mountain’... and so much more. This place is exhausting but fantastic! Admission is free, but parking is $20 on weekends and many activities require tickets – for instance, Coyote Mountain costs $5 in tickets.
Pumpkin patches have come a long way from the early days of simply picking out a likely Jack o’Lantern candidate from a field of beautiful golden orange pumpkins. Now there are a wealth of other things that are expected to be included: corn mazes, hay rides, petting zoos, miniature trains, and even corn pools – which are kind of like ballpits, but with dried corn kernels. There’s goat yoga and there are zip lines; there are ‘farm ninja’ obstacle courses and there are pig races. But bigger isn’t always better, and so while the impulse is there to select the best pumpkin patches in the US for their non-pumpkin offerings, we’ve tried to make this list balance the idea of screaming-good fun with a wholesome appreciation of the harvest.
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