It’s Fall, Y’All! Find NWA’s best pumpkins, mazes, more

It’s Fall, Y’All! Find NWA’s best pumpkins, mazes, more
LARA JO HIGHTOWER/Special to the Free Weekly


“I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers,” says Anne Shirley, happily, in the beloved children’s classic “Anne of Green Gables” by L.M. Montgomery. To be sure, there’s a lot to love about October: enjoying the cooler temperatures, welcoming autumn, celebrating Halloween — and if you’re the kind of person who shares Anne’s enthusiasm for the month, you’re sure to find a corn maze, hay ride or pumpkin patch in Northwest Arkansas that will help you celebrate.

Throughout the area, enjoy all these things to do in celebration of the 10th month of the year:

Pick A Pumpkin

Spend an October afternoon trying to make your way through Farmland Adventures’ 9-acre corn maze. (File Photo)

Visit one of these locations to pluck the perfect pumpkin for your front porch.

McGarrah Farms

14816 Miser Road, Pea Ridge

640-3257

Closed Tuesdays. Open weekdays 1-6 p.m.; Saturdays, 10 a.m.-6 p.m.; Sundays, 12 p.m.-6 p.m.

Reagan Family Farm

241 E. 15th St., Fayetteville

443-5529

Visit this location for pumpkins of all shapes and sizes, gourds, mums, corn stalk bundles, wheat straw bales and stems of cotton. Hours/days of operation vary; check facebook.com/farmreaganfamily for more information.

Vanzant Fruit Farms

3705 Arkansas 264, Lowell

756-3152

8 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Saturday

Fred and Kahylene Vanzant started Vanzant Fruit Farms in 1949, and their Lowell farm stand is still a popular place to purchase fresh fruit and vegetables — including pumpkins in the month of October.

Sequoyah United Methodist Church Youth Pumpkin Patch

1910 Old Wire Road, Fayetteville

442-8677

10 a.m.-7 p.m. every day through Oct. 31

Sequoyah United Methodist Church in Fayetteville turns its front lawn into a giant pumpkin patch every October, trucking in the pumpkins and gourds from a Navajo Indian reservation in northwest New Mexico. Proceeds go to support youth ministry and missions.

Ranalli Farms Pumpkin Patch

2190 W. Henri De Tonti Blvd., Springdale

361-1313

Monday-Saturday 8:30 a.m.-6 p.m.; Sunday 12-5 p.m.

Three generations of the Ranalli family have been growing, harvesting and selling strawberries, blueberries, peaches, corn, melons, grapes, apples and, from mid-September until December, pumpkins.

Fall Fun

Farmland Adventures’ offerings include pony rides, a corn maze and a petting zoo. (File Photo/Andy Shupe)

Enjoy the best of outdoor fall fun with one of these organizations.

Farmland Adventures

5355 Parsons Road, Springdale

799-5033

The Parsons family has been working the land where Farmland Adventures is located since 1910. Today, the farm features a 9-acre corn maze with the theme “Secret Agent,” wagon rides, a pumpkin patch, pony rides, farm animals, pig races and a kids’ play area.

Blue Ribbon Farms’ Ozark Fall Fest

6069 Arkansas 112, Springdale

636-1717

Fridays, 3-9 p.m.; Saturdays, 10 a.m.-9 p.m.; Sundays, 11 a.m.-5 p.m.

A plethora of activities and events are offered during this nearly monthlong fall festival. Rides, races and games include cornhole, paintball, three-legged races, a corn cannon, trike races, hayrides, a corn maze and a wagon train; family activities include face painting. costume contests, a climbing wall, jumping pillows, tire swings, a petting zoo and bonfires. Live music is featured on Fridays and Saturdays, and concessions are available.

Exeter Corn Maze State

Missouri MM, Exeter, Mo.

877-846-3959

Open now through Nov. 7, Wednesdays-Sundays; hours vary according to activity. Check exetercornmaze.com/hours for more information.

The list of activities and events at this fall extravaganza are as long as your arm and includes scary, Halloween-themed events like the daytime haunted barn, zombie paintball and the haunted corn maze; and more family-friendly activities like swings, a petting zoo, hayrides, a pumpkin cannon, pumpkin jumps, a zip line, go karts and pig races.

Ozark Corn Maze

2991 Dead Horse Mountain Road, Fayetteville

208-2692

ozarkcornmaze.com

Thursdays, noon-7 p.m.; Fridays, noon-10 p.m.; Saturdays, 10 a.m.-10 p.m.; Sundays 10 a.m.-6 p.m.

At this location, you’ll find two separate corn mazes on 10 acres of land, hay stacks, an apple cannon, bounce pillows, the Rivercrest Express Train, a variety of slides, a huge pumpkin selection, free hayrides and live music.

Send your fall festival, corn maze or pumpkin patch to lhightower@nwadg.com.

Categories: Family Friendly