HOW TO GO
What: 36th annual Fall Farm Pumpkin Festival
Where: Young's Jersey Dairy, 6880 Springfield-Xenia Road, just north of Yellow Springs
When: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 6-7
Cost: Free admission
More info: (937) 327-9403, www.youngsdairy.com
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
Cow milking demonstrations: noon to 5 p.m.
Pumpkin painting: noon to 6 p.m.
Young’s farmstead cheese production tours: 1, 3 and 5 p.m.
You know it’s officially fall when Young’s Jersey Dairy hosts its annual Pumpkin Festival. This weekend marks the annual event’s 36th year.
Many of us have grown up visiting Young’s, petting and feeding the goats, seeing the cows being milked and watching the dairy farm grow into a local destination for family fun. During the Pumpkin Festival, you can do all the things Young’s is now famous for, and more.
Dan Young, owner of Young’s Jersey Dairy, says in addition to mini-golf, batting cages, ice cream and farm animals, the fall festival offers a corn maze for visitors to get lost and then found. “The maze covers over three and a half acres of cornfield and has over one mile of paths,” said Young.
It is, after all, a pumpkin festival, so what about the pumpkins? Young says that one of the most popular things to do during the festival is to take the horse-drawn wagon to the pumpkin patch to find that special pumpkin. “It’s a lot of fun to look around the field until you find just the right pumpkin,” said Young. “You get to enjoy a wagon ride and get a fresh pumpkin all at the same time.”
You can also find a pumpkin already harvested next to the dairy store. “There are always several thousand small pumpkins that sell for $2.50 or less,” said Young. “The larger pumpkins are all individually marked with a price.”
There’s also a pumpkin launcher, where you send a pumpkin flying to try to hit a target and explode your pumpkin in the process. And from noon to 6 p.m. on both days, youngsters can try their hands at pumpkin painting.
The weekend also features a pumpkin carving contest for kids on Saturday and for adults on Sunday. There is a $7 entry fee, which includes your pumpkin that you take home with you after the contest. The first-place winner of each class wins $20, second place wins $10 and third place wins $5.
We mustn’t forget the homemade treats, including caramel apples, pumpkin donut holes and samples of Young’s own cheese.
“It’s fall fun for the whole family. “This event is our most popular event of the year,” said Young.
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