Fall is officially here and that means the smell of hay and pumpkins. My family loves visiting pumpkin patches. Last weekend we went to Thies Farm in Maryland Heights. If you’re looking for a pumpkin patch to take the kids this season, I recommend this one. It was so much fun and the kids really enjoyed the play area. I would recommend bringing a flash light for all the hay tunnels. There were pony rides, mazes, hay rides, zip lines, and a farmers market with a variety of fresh fruits, vegetables, and other items. Plan on spending the whole day there to play and pick the perfect pumpkin.

My other recommendation, which we’re going to next weekend is Relleke Pumpkin Patch in Pontoon Beach, IL. This is my personal favorite because it is very affordable and as much fun as all the others. Parking and admission is free. If you want to do activities or go on rides, you will need to purchase tickets. Don’t worry though, the tickets are just $0.50 each. My daughter loves the giant slide, pony rides, feeding the animals in the petting zoo, and picking the perfect pumpkin. I love all the photo-op set ups they have.

While these are my favorite, there are plenty of other pumpkin patches in the area as well:

Eckert’s: They have locations in Belleville and Millstadt. Both locations offer fun children’s activities, including pony and camel rides. The Belleville Farm also offers a grocery store, garden center, and custard shop. The Millstadt Farm offers haunted hayrides on the weekends in September and October.

Rombach’s Farm in Chesterfield: In addition to pumpkin picking, they have a free wooden maze and fort, plus animals. Additional weekend activities include hayrides, barrel rides, and pony rides.

Brookdale Farms in Eureka: This farm is just a couple miles from Six Flags. They offer horse-drawn hayrides, a corn maze, zip line, campfire, pony rides, a pumpkin slingshot, and farm animals.

Stuckmeyer Farms in Fenton: This is both a farm and greenhouse. In addition to fun activities for the kids like hayrides, pony rides, corn stalks, and inflatable slide, they also have a market to buy fresh fruits, vegetables, gourds, and mums.

Sullivan Farms in Florissant: This farm specializes in Christmas trees, but they have a great pumpkin patch as well. For the kids, they also offer free hayrides and a straw castle maze. On the weekends they have delicious pumpkin bread, apple cider, and popcorn.

Herman’s Farm Orchard in St. Charles: Take a hayride out to the pumpkin patch. Then come back to play on the pumpkin castle and wagon play area. They also have a market with apples, vegetables, mums, corn stalks, straw bales, and more.

In addition to visiting pumpkin patches, there are some fun October festivals happening this weekend. I don’t know how we will squeeze it all in, but we are also planning on checking out these two festivals with friends and family:

The Grand Centennial Festival in Richmond Heights happening this Friday and Saturday.

It will be open from 4-10pm on Friday. There will be carnival rides, food, vendors, Yoga, and a DJ. Then Saturday is a big day full of events beginning with a parade at 11am followed by a carnival, pony rides, chalk competition, petting zoo, magic show, live  music, and great festival food.

Florissant’s Oktoberfest is on Sunday from 11am-5pm. It’s a great family festival with carnival rides, crafts, wagon rides, a dog show, food, and live music.

So that’s my fun-filled October weekend. What are your favorite October events and pumpkin patches?

 

Brought to you by Mills Properties

Photos compliments of Relleke Pumpkin Patch and The City of Florissant