Updated for 2018!
Choose the Best South Sound Area Pumpkin Patch for Your Family Based on Your, “Pumpkin Personality.”
This is not your ordinary pumpkin patch list, friends. We do have one of those, too!
This is the list where we have patches organized by your, “Pumpkin personality.” We retired this feature a couple years ago, but due to popular demand, we’ve brought it back!
If you’ve already gotten your gourd consider trying another spot on this list just for fun this week. It’s a great daytime outing with preschoolers, especially! As always, we’ve provided links so you can double check hours, pricing, and other details.
Pumpkin Personality #1 I Just Want to Do a Patch!
Picha Farms in Puyallup Pumpkin slingshot! Also has a corn maze, weekend hay rides, a kiddie train, and a variety of items for sale, but doesn’t feel too big. Friendly, family run farm. Open September 29th-October 31st.
Scholz Farm in the Orting Valley An especially good choice for young children and families on a budget. No tot sized corn maze this year, but there is still a kids’ play area. This is very simple compared to to other spots-in previous years the highlight was riding down a sawdust hill on old toys, but kids love it! Some animals to see. No charge for anything but your pumpkin and any produce you buy. We love this one, but do note it is Very simple and homespun.
Another nice choice if you like your patch fun on the sweet and simple side. Features a simpler corn maze, pumpkin sling shots, and free tractor pulled hay rides on the weekends (weather permitting). Monday-Friday 3:00-6:00 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. through October 31st.
Spooky’s in Sumner
O.K….are you up for an adventure? I haven’t confirmed this is going on this year, but in the past readers have suggested this little patch. I can’t find a website or a fb page, but it’s close to the WinCo in Sumner. If you find the WinCo you’ll see signs on that country looking road that goes the back way to Winco. Somebody update me if you find it this year, o.k.?
Not a patch, but a fun stand, Patterson’s in Gig Harbor usually has plenty of pumpkins to choose from, and sometimes has activities.
Pumpkin Personality #2 I want to do the Whole Fall Thing-mazes, rides, you name it, and I don’t mind paying more-it’s only once a year!
Spooner Farms, Puyallup
This is a favorite of SFM Facebook readers who love the farm animals and think it’s a good choice for younger children. Activities include the pumpkin patch, pumpkin sling shot, farm animals, face painting, candy store, corn maze, and face painting. The maze and slingshot have different hours than the pumpkin patch and varied pricing so check out their harvest fest flyer. Be sure to check the website too for the weekend only events and the tour page.
I used to have this one under the top category. It’s probably somewhere between the first two categories, but I’ve moved it partly because of the activities and partly because of the crowd. You will have LOTS of company here. Get an early start if you want to go on the weekend.
Maris Farms, Buckley
If you missed the Puyallup Fair this year, you can always get a great fair like experience at Maris Farms. There is a huge kids’ area, including corn pit, playground, face painting, and more. Not to be missed are the live pig races! The bigger kids love the jumping pillow, monster truck ride, pumpkin slingshot and pedal carts. There’s a traditional corn maze and Haunted Woods. And, you can even pick a pumpkin here! This is a good choice for your hard-to-impress tweens and teens. If you have younger kids, go on a weekday. The weekday admission is quite a bit lower than the weekends, but some food vendors and actives are unavailable. You can check the prices here.
Thomasson Family Farm Enumclaw Special Kids’ Korral area. We heard from several readers happy with this one for their preschoolers. Tons of fun for families with younger children if you don’t mind spending a bit extra and driving to Enumclaw.
Lattins Cider Mill Olympia Features homemade apple treats and tractor rides to the pumpkin patch. Not as big as some of the others in the area but it does have a, “Festive,” feel and is a favorite with readers. This is another one sort of in-between categories one and two.
Schilter Farm Olympia Tractor rides, animals, hay jumping, and more. Pricing has changed this year. Be sure to look it over. Various pass levels are available, depending on what activities you want to do. No admission charge if you just want a pumpkin Corn maze, too. Reader favorite!
Hunter’s Farm Olympia Variety of farm activities that cost 1-6 tickets. Tickets are 1.00 each. If your kiddos would let you get away with just doing the ride out to the patch, you wouldn’t spend much at all. If there’s a good chance they’ll want to do it All, run the numbers before you go. Look for all of them under the, “Fun Things To Do,” tab in their pumpkin patch section.
Rutledge Corn Maze Tumwater A good choice for older kids and folks really serious about corn mazes! They’ve added some family activities this year, but I’d still do this one with tweens and up (Need a youth group outing)?
Pumpkin Personality #3 We’d like to grab a pumpkin and do a maze, but I don’t want to spend the whole day at it.
Both sites below have additional activities but are mostly patch/maze spots. Plenty of fun but not quite the whole fallapalooza. Feel free to let me know if you disagree with my take on this, btw!
Mosby Auburn corn maze, pumpkin patch, concessions, tractor rides on weekends.
Carpinito Brothers Kent A maze, a patch, and produce. We’ve done the maze here before. My husband and my older son had great fun. Henry and I would have been lost in that maze until nightfall if they hadn’t come to save us. Do note the cost on the Kids’ Korral area increased last year. See the link for current pricing.
If you’re really serious about mazes, you may also want to consider Maris Farms or Rutledge-they’re in the list above.
Pumpkin Personality #4 I’d really just like to let the kids grab one from the bin at the grocery store, but then I’d miss the cute pictures.
Conservatory at Wright Park, Tacoma
Are you looking for a nice, warm, indoor setting to get some pictures of your kids with pumpkins and fanciful mums? You can pose your little one in front of the specially designed pumpkin arrangement without having to wait for strangers to walk out of the background or trying to coax a smile out of the freezing baby. Keep in mind pumpkins are not for sale, so you’ll have to hit up Freddy’s on your way home. There is a suggested donation of $3 for admission.
Open: October 16-November 4
Pumpkin Personality #5 I really want to support a small, local farm, with organic practices.
Wild Hare Farm on River Road This is the only certified organic farm in the area. They are NOT offering a festival or cider squeezing this year, but I *think* they should have pumpkins for sale. You might want to consider becoming a share member if you’d like to support what they do. You can also book field trips for groups, though I’m guessing those are full now.
Creek House Farm Port Orchard Small, family farm with an emphasis on sustainable practices. I don’t know this spot, but it’s gotten good reviews from readers. They do close when they sell out, so once again….check before you go.
Pumpkin Personality #6 We’re on a budget!
Have we got a deal for you! Every year, Sterino Farms offers pumpkins for just 1.00! Sometimes they’ll even give you a free hot dog! The only catch is they do it fairly close to Halloween, so you’ll have to wait a bit.
They do now also offer a u-pick patch AND a corn maze, so if you’d like to go and support them that would be a great way to do it, but it will cost you more than 1.00 right now. Watch their Fb page for updates on the 1.00 deal.
If you know of another patch we should add to one of our categories, leave a comment and let me know!
If you’d like a more traditional round up you can see our other pumpkin patch and corn maze list here!
Your “pumpkin personality” list is the best! Thank you so much. It’s super helpful!
We love Scholz farm! We bought three pumpkins and a specialty jarred item for $20. The pumpkins were $12. You can’t beat that and the experience. We appreciate how low-tech it is. They also have people selling food-I think it was the Lyon’s Club or something like that.
One more for #5 we did this year was Spookys patch in Sumner, near the Winco. I’m super anti-crowd and anti-stress this year and this was perfect. It’s got great photo ops, a cow and dogs roaming, and cash only. you just measure your pumpkins they have per-scale and pay accordingly. There were like 3 other people there and I got my pictures. Even my husband thought it was perfect so I felt completely vindicated this year 😂
Thanks so much, Nicole! That’s just the kind of patch I love to hear about.