It's no secret that I love Halloween. The smell of the fallen leaves and the way they crunch underfoot. The crisp, cool air. Apple cider. A visit to the pumpkin patch, where I'd be chased by turkeys while trying to pick the perfect pumpkin. Carving jack-o-lanterns and taking in as many spooky stories as I could stand. Dressing in costume and getting buckets of candy. It always felt like there really was magic in the air during this time of year.
I'm still very much a kid-at-heart when it comes to Halloween. Luckily S is too, and we try to keep the tradition alive by going to a pumpkin patch and carving a pumpkin or two every year. The farm we chose last year was a bit of a bust. It was expensive and a little too kid-oriented. On top of that, the weather was cold and rainy, so we grabbed a couple of little pumpkins and went home.
This year, S did some serious research and found Howell Family Pumpkin Farm in the Niagara region. We went last Sunday and had a blast. I was going to do this post on Monday, but I figured it was a perfect for a Friday 10. Here are some of my favourite pics.
We did, in fact, want pumpkins, so I knew it was going to be a good day when we saw this sign on the way in.
Bowling with pumpkins and pumpkin-gator spectators.
Inspiration for carving. I would love to see everything lit up at night.
Looks like they've been there a long time. I'd hate to see what that guy is going to charge for labor. (I'll see myself out. . .)
We ended up with two tiny pie pumpkins, but they had so many different varieties and sizes, including beautiful mottled Mexican and blue pumpkins. I think the tall, skinny one would be fun to carve.
Pumpkins in Black.
My favourite photo of the day. Does it get more idyllically fall than this?
They had a goat walk made of ramps that led to different levels. You could feed the goats using a pully system--you can see the red pully to the right--that brought a small cup up to one of the levels and dumped the food out. I tried to feed this guy, but he was too busy hamming it up for the cameras.
We did a corn maze! It was a first for the both of us. I tried the old "keep your left hand on the wall" trick, but either screwed up or debunked it. We still got out pretty quickly, though.
I had to end with this photo. It speaks for itself.
Practical Information
location
2878 Holland Road
Fonthill, Ontario
Parking
There's plenty of free parking in a field near the farm. From there it's just a quick walk down a pretty tree-lined street to the farm.
Hours
Generally, the hours are:
- Monday, Wednesday, Thursday: 10 am - 5 pm (with some limits on attractions, bbq, and live shows)
- Tuesday: 10 am - 9 pm (attractions, live shows, and bbq available after 5 pm only)
- Friday - Saturday: 10 am to 10 pm
- Sunday: 11 am to 7 pm
- Halloween: 10 am - 3 pm (limited attractions, bbq, and live shows)
I recommend visiting their website before you go for updated information about the hours and attractions that will be available each day until Halloween.
Pricing
It's free to enter the market area where you can get some food and buy pumpkins or other produce. If you want to see the attractions, however, there's an admission fee of $6.95 for ages 3 and up plus the cost of attraction tickets. The corn maze, for example, was 3 tickets each. Tickets are $1.47 each or $1.11 each when you purchase 20+. More information here about how much each attraction costs.
Food and Drink
There's a BBQ and market with lots of fun food like pumpkin sausage, pumpkin donuts, fudge, apple cider, coffee, funnel cake, candy apples, etc. We didn't stop to eat anything since the line was long and the prices for a sausage seemed a bit high (around $5). But it was very tempting and everyone seemed to be happy with their treats.
Attractions
From wagon rides to corn mazes to a spook barn, there's a little something for adults and kids of all ages. Check out all of the fun things to do here.
That's it for this week! Hope you have a happy weekend. . .maybe including carving some pumpkins! Let me know if you have a favourite Halloween tradition, pumpkin patch, or place to visit.