Where to go to pick—and pick up—your pumpkin this autumn.
Eastside Seasonal Farm and Pumpkin Patch
Meet Wink the donkey, pet goats, climb and get lost in hay bales, and more. Coupons available on their website. Old-fashioned, rural pumpkin patch with few gimmicks other than the pleasure of the farm, its produce, and animals.
5834 Petaluma Hill Road, Santa Rosa.
Open daily, Sept. 26 forward.
707.206.9672
First Light Farm Organic Farmstand
Where Anderson’s Giant Pumpkins once stood, today First Light provides the gourd-geous goodness. Both a farm stand and a pumpkin patch.
4588 Bodega Ave., Petaluma.
Open daily in October. Hours: 11am to 5pm.
707.637.6257
Grandma’s Pumpkin Patch
Replete with a petting zoo, climbable hay stacks, and noodle-stringing crafts projects, Grandma also has old tractors that kids can climb on and plenty of pumpkins. Outfitted with an eye to youngsters and their even younger siblings, Grandma’s has a baby changing trailer, fully gated patch, and other smart amenities that help young families feel safe. Also a good place to pick up natural autumn décor from their fields and craftsroom.
17740 Healdsburg Ave., Healdsburg.
Open daily in October. Hours: 10am to dusk
707.431.8058
The Great Peter Pumpkin Patch at Springhill Dairy
springhillcheese.com/pumpkin-patch.php
Cow milking, potato digging, hay rides, cheese tasting, farm tours, and fresh ice cream are among the offerings.
4235 Spring Hill Road, Petaluma.
Opens Saturday, Sept. 26. Hours: 9am to dusk.
707.762.3446
McClelland’s Organic Pumpkin Patch
mcclellandsdairy.com/PumpkinPatch.htm
Three acres and 20 varieties of orange globes to choose from. Food cart, farm tours, and, thank goodness, espresso.
6475 Bodega Ave., Petaluma.
Open during October. Hours: Saturday-Sunday, 10am to 5pm.
707.664.0452
Muelrath Ranches
Featuring a corn maze just for toddlers, a hay tunnel for older kids, and hay rides for everyone, Muelrath’s has a campfire each Friday and Saturday night in their corral as well as 21 varieties of pumpkins to pick from and plenty of fall decorations to take home from the fields.
3800 Walker Ave., Santa Rosa.
Opens Saturday, Sept. 26. Hours: Sunday-Thursday, 10am to 6pm; Friday-Saturday, 10am to 9pm.
707.585.2195
Petaluma Pumpkin Patch & Amazing Corn Maze
The bane of southbound motorists as the freakish specter of corn actually growing somehow causes traffic to crawl from the Cotati Grade on down, this nonetheless remains a favored patch. Now with a second story maze-viewing platform that presumably helps parents find children lost amid the stalks.
450 Stony Point Road, Petaluma.
Opens Saturday, Sept. 26. Hours: Sunday-Thursday, 10am to 6pm; Friday-Saturday, 10am to 10pm.
707.781.3132
Santa Rosa Pumpkin Patch
Featuring an eight-acre corn maze that has two tracks—one complete, the other shorter—to gasping
freedom, this patch matches the maze with another full eight acres of pumpkins. Special activities include a corn play box, a country tire swing set, pedal tractor races, pony rides, and more.
Opens Saturday, Sept. 26. Hours: Monday-Thursday, 9am to 7pm; Friday-Saturday, 9am to 10pm; Sunday, 9am to 7pm.
5157 Stony Point Road, Santa Rosa.
707.331.6653
Tolay Fall Festival
parks.sonomacounty.ca.gov/Activities/Tolay_Fall_Festival.aspx
Wonderful for those who remember and miss the Cardoza Ranch pumpkin patch, this two-weekend festival is held on the former Cardoza grounds where the soil still does a darned good job goosing pumpkins to life. Emphasizing nature and education, activities include a Nighttime Creatures Barn, a Creepy Crawly Room (think: tarantulas), a Native American village replica, pumpkin seed spitting contests, gunnysack races, archery demonstrations, and more. And yes, a pumpkin patch, too.
Saturday-Sunday, Oct. 17-18 and 24-25, 11am to 5pm. $1-$4; $7, parking.
Tolay Lake Regional Park,
5869 Lakeville Hwy., Petaluma.
707.565.2041