It’s that time of year, when your 3-year-old is meant to stand in overalls next to a pumpkin twice their size and pose for the photo you’ll keep on your mantle for decades.
Also known as: pumpkin-patch season.
Whether you’re looking for the largest pumpkin or the roundest, pumpkins to carve or to eat, we’ve got a list of some of the best places in the Bay Area to be entertained during pumpkin season.
Smith Family Farm, Brentwood
A day at the Smith Farm’s Pumpkin Patch is an autumnal rite of passage in eastern Contra Costa, where the focus turns from Brentwood’s famous corn (and stone fruit and tomatoes) to pumpkins (and pomegranates and persimmons) when the weather changes. Weekends offer special activities: Families can visit the interactive barnyard’s animals, demonstration beehive and herb garden; wander the corn maze; play cornhole; and enjoy live music at the gazebo. Those days also feature arts and crafts vendors, food trucks and face painting. The Antique Tractor Expo — Oct. 11-12 this year — is always a big draw.
Details: Open 9 a.m.-5 p.m. daily through Halloween. Only cash, checks accepted. Admission, $15 for all visitors ages 2 and up, includes a pumpkin to take home. No hayrides this season. 4350 Sellers Ave., Brentwood; www.smithfamilyfarm.com
Webb Ranch, Portola Valley
This working 30-acre ranch, in operation for over a century, grows a majority of the organic pumpkins at its pumpkin patch on-site (the rest are from Half Moon Bay). And once the pumpkins are selected, there are plenty of other harvest-season festivities to partake in, including bounce houses, a haunted house, a corn maze and a farm obstacle course. And if you visit on the weekend, or on Columbus Day (Oct. 13), there are additional activities, like tractor rides, and reptile and petting zoos, where visitors can befriend critters like ducks, bunnies, sheep, alpacas, goats, pigs and chickens — plus frogs, spiders, snakes, turtles and lizards. If you plan to visit on the weekend, you’ll need a reservation, while walk-ins on weekdays are welcome.
Details: Open 10 a.m.-6 p.m. daily at 2718 Alpine Road, Portola Valley; tickets are $10-$35 depending on age. Kids 2 and under are free. webbranchinc.com/pumpkin-patch.html
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Spina Farms, Morgan Hill
Having got its start as just a humble little family patch back in the 1940s, Spina Farms has grown into a massive operation — and true fall season destination — that certainly ranks among the biggest pumpkin patches in the Bay Area. The Morgan Hill farm — which was originally located at Bailey Avenue and Santa Teresa Boulevard but has since moved a quarter-mile south to Laguna Avenue and Santa Teresa — features a giant corn maze, train/tractor rides, pumpkin blasters, plenty of big dinosaurs (as well as King Kong and Godzilla), carnival games, a huge pumpkin pyramid and lots of other attractions to entice visitors.
Details: The event runs through Nov. 3. Cost per attraction is $8, or you can buy a $35 park pass. Parking is free Mondays-Thursdays, but costs $25 (cash only) Fridays-Sundays. For more information, visit spinafarmspumpkinpatch.com
Ardenwood Historic Farm, Fremont
This living-history park devoted to the agrarian life of 1890-1930 is partnering with Dig Deep Farms for its annual pumpkin patch. Open three weekends in October, the family-friendly destination promises games, crafts, food and drink, and of course, the opportunity to carve and decorate the pumpkin of your choice. Plus, there’s a hay pyramid to climb and a corn maze to navigate. As the farm says, “Let the gourd times roll!” And on Oct. 11-12, the park is holding a separate Harvest Festival with cider pressing, live music, historic crafts and the fun physical activity of harvesting corn to feed to farm animals ($8-$12).
Details: Pumpkin patch is open 10 a.m.-4 p.m. on Oct. 11-12, Oct. 18-19 and Oct. 25-26 at 34600 Ardenwood Blvd., Fremont; $5 for 12-older, $2 ages 3-11, free for 2 and under, ebparks.org/parks/ardenwood#events
Queens Pumpkin Patch, Saratoga
This rural patch set in suburban Saratoga offers a wealth of activities for kids. During the weeks leading up to Halloween, families can engage in old-timey pastimes like riding on a hay wagon, wandering through a corn maze, riding the children’s trains, visiting the petting zoo or picking out the best pumpkins for a front-porch array at home. Or, for the older kids and the adventurous, there are activities like pumpkin slingshots, wall climbing, bumper boats and human “hamster balls.” You’ll pay per activity: Admission is $6.20. Activity prices range from $6 (hayride, petting zoo) to $12-plus (climbing wall, corn maze, etc.).
Details: Open 9 a.m.-9 p.m. daily through Halloween at 12985 Saratoga Ave., Saratoga; https:queenspumpkinpatch.com
G&M Farms, Livermore
David Letterman liked this farm so much he featured it twice on his show. It’s well-known for its huge and “haunted” corn maze ($10), but also has a swell (and free) pumpkin patch with a hay maze and corn-kernel pit. Children harvest gourds in little red wagons to carve or cook at home. Then there are other activities — most only open on the weekends — including pedal carts, jumping pillows, hayrides and a “Cow Train” that meanders through the corn maze. And don’t forget the cute farm animals to hobnob with. Everything runs until the farm closes for the season Oct. 30. Please leave the pets at home.
Details: Pumpkin patch is open 3-7 p.m. Wednesdays-Fridays, 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Saturdays and 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Sundays at 487 E. Airway Blvd., Livermore; check prices and hours of attractions at gmfarms.com/pumpkin
Lemos Farm, Half Moon Bay
You know you’ve arrived at Lemos Farms when you see Ol’ Paint, a horse statue whose paint job changes monthly with the seasons, standing sentinel at the farm’s entrance. This working farm goes all-out in its celebration of the spooky season: Through Nov. 16, visitors can enjoy not just a pumpkin patch, but also a panoply of seasonal activities, including pony rides (for kiddos up to 70 pounds), train rides, hay rides, a haunted house and more.
Weekend pumpkin patch visitors might also plan to pair their outing with a goat yoga session offered on-site. Friendly goats treat downward dog posers as their own obstacle courses, scrambling atop yogis who may just find that supporting the weight of their agile farm friends is a surprisingly vigorous — and hilarious — core workout.
Details: Open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Wednesdays-Sundays at 12320 San Mateo Road, Half Moon Bay; lemosfarm.com
ABC Tree Farms California, multiple locations
A longtime purveyor of seasonal outdoor amusement, ABC Tree Farms is hosting more than a dozen “Pick of the Patch Pumpkin Patches” all around the Bay Area. Families can beeline to the one closest to them, whether that be Fremont, Hayward, Concord, San Jose or elsewhere. A sampling of what’s on tap at these patches includes giant inflatable amusements for kids to bounce on and different varieties of pumpkins to pick. For the older kids, there’s also plinking each other with paintballs.
Details: Find the dates, addresses and activities at abctreefarms.net/pumpkin-patches
Joan’s Farm & Pumpkin Patch, Livermore
It’s hard to pass up any pumpkin patch that features “pumpkin bowling.” Joan’s is full of Halloween-themed activities, including a corn maze, Old West Town, an obstacle course, an old farm equipment museum, a train, inflatable slide and an opportunity to feed the animals.
Details: Open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily except Tuesdays at 4351 Mines Rd, Livermore; joansfarm.com
Three Nunns Farm, Brentwood
Enjoy a tractor ride into the pumpkin patch, where the kids can also explore corn mazes, historic hay forts and educational displays about the farm history.
Details: Open daily, 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., at 550 Walnut Blvd. in Brentwood; threenunns.com/about
Dingle Family Farm, Oakley
Here, a play date with a pony is combined with a pumpkin patch, as the farm offers one-hour private tours with pony rides and interaction with farm animals to go with your pumpkin-picking experience. Pricing starting at $150.
Details: Located at 3630 Brown Road, Oakley; thedinglefamilyfarmandstables.com