Snohomish valley farms offer fall fun
Festival of Pumpkins begins Saturday, Sept. 29 SNOHOMISH - When fall sets in around Snohomish, you know it’s time to head out to one of six family-owned valley farms participating in the Festival of Pumpkins.
There will be plenty of activities for all ages, including pumpkin patches, corn mazes (some haunted), hay rides and farm animals.
The festival opens Saturday, Sept. 29 and runs through Oct. 31. Opening dates, hours and activities vary from farm to farm. Check out www.festivalofpumpkins.org for tickets and information on each farm.
The participating farms and highlights of activities:
• Bailey Vegetables and Pumpkin Patch. Explore over 40 acres of u-pick vegetables and pumpkin patch. There also will be a corn maze, kids play barn, wagon rides and warm food. Bailey’s farm is located at 12711 Springhetti Road in Snohomish.
• Bob’s Corn and Pumpkin Patch. Free hayrides, cow train, three corn mazes, trike track, corn cannon and Friday and Saturday night corn maze with bonfire. Bob’s is located at 10917 Elliot Road in Snohomish.
• Carleton Farm Produce. Pumpkin patch, trivia corn maze, farm animals, kid’s maze and slides. On weekends, check out hay rides, hot foods, pumpkin cannon and a haunted swamp corn maze. Carleton is located at 630 Sunnyside Blvd. SE in Lake Stevens.
• Craven Farm. Twenty-acre pumpkin patch, hay rides, face painting and farm animals. Fifteen-acre corn maze, gift shop, espresso stand and new this year is a Haunted Nightmare maze. A portion of the haunted maze proceeds benefits the Snohomish Boys & Girls Club. Craven Farm is located at 13817 Short School Road in Snohomish.
• Stocker Corn Maze and Pumpkin Park. Pumpkin patch, fall decorations, cider and jam. On weekends, check out an all ages corn maze, hay rides, catch trout and cheer the pumpkin cannon and, if you dare, a Stalker Farms haunted corn field. Stocker is located at 8705 Marsh Road in Snohomish.
• The Farm at Swan’s Trail. Thirty-acre pumpkin patch, 12-acre Washington state corn maze, wagon rides, petting farm, cow train ride and pig show and duck races. The Farm is located at 7302 Rivershore Road in Snohomish.
Carol and Ben Krause, owners of The Farm at Swan’s Trail, spend the entire year preparing for the October pumpkin fest, which Carol said is their main source of income.
“The cool thing about the festival is that we’re all pumpkin patches, but we all have something unique that we do,” Carol said.
The Farm’s new attraction this year will be a giant “jumping pillow,” she said.
The “giant, bounding inflatable” will be set into a pit in the ground, which makes it safer than a trampoline. The jumping pillow will be installed and ready to go by Saturday, Oct. 6.
At Craven Farm, brave kids 10 years old and up can experience a 3D “Haunted Nightmare” haunted attraction that follows the story line of an urban legend in which numerous missing persons reports were filed in the area surrounding Craven Farm.
Nightmare-seekers at Craven will don 3D-glasses while they tour the “haunted” corn trail that uses “backlighting and fluorescent artistry” to make the ghoulish scenes come alive.
Carol said that, like the other participating farms, The Farm sees the same customers come back year after year.
“It’s a nice last bit of ‘Let’s get outside and do something before winter sets in’,” Carol said.
