The days may be getting shorter, but there’s no shortage of events near La Conner planned to celebrate the season of pumpkins, hayrides, and falling leaves.
Get your favorite cozy flannel and boots ready, here are some highlights.
The Giant Pumpkin Festival
When: 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Sept. 20
Where: Christianson’s Nursery and Greenhouse, 15806 Best Rd., Mount Vernon
Cost: Free
christiansonsnursery.com/13016
An annual event since 2005, gourd growers from as far as central Oregon and Spokane travel to Christianson’s to compete for the coveted heaviest pumpkin title. One year, the winning pumpkin weighed a record-breaking 2,000 pounds. In addition to watching the theatrics of maneuvering the giant pumpkins to get weighed, families can enjoy visiting with farm animals, interactive toad-viewing ponds, festival games, a hay maze, and face-painting.
Gordon Skagit Farms
When: Opening Day Sept. 26
Where: 15598 McLean Rd., Mount Vernon
Cost: Free
Gordon Skagit Farms offers more than 150 varieties of pumpkins and squash for both culinary delights and festive decorations. The family-run farm has been featured in Martha Stewart Living and specializes in rare and unique heirloom varieties. Kids will love running around the U-Pick field while teens and adults can walk around and take Insta-worthy pics of all the beautiful and colorful displays.
Skagit Farm to Pint Fest
When: 1-5:30 p.m. Sept. 27
Where: La Conner Marina, North Second St., La Conner
Cost: Starting from $55.20
Beer, bites, and bands—the only all-Skagit grown local beer and food festival. Each brewery is paired with a local chef or restaurant serving you a delicious bite with your beer tasting. The event is outdoors and will happen rain or shine. Ages 21+ only. Dogs on leashes will be allowed.
Skagit Valley Festival of Family Farms
When: 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Oct. 4 and 5
Where: Hedlin’s Family Farm, 12052 Chilberg Rd., La Conner
Cost: Free
festivaloffamilyfarms.com
Racers, start your vegg-ines! At Hedlin’s Family Farm during the Skagit Valley Festival of Family Farms, kids will get the opportunity to build and decorate their own “veggie racer,” made from zucchini or corn, then race them on a track off the back of a hay wagon. Meet the farmers, take a hayride tour, and walk among the dahlia fields.
Nine other farms including Gordon Skagit Farms and Roozengaarde are also participating. For more information, visit farmtour.com.
Schuh Farms
When: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. daily
Where: 15565 WA-536 Mt. Vernon
Cost: Free to enter, Pay for activity tickets on-site
Schuh Farms has three U-pick pumpkin fields. Kids will love the playground, tractor train rides, and 3-acre corn maze. Plus, there are goats and chickens too. The main store sells fresh pies, scones, and cookies, along with different varieties of squash, apples, and corn.
Snow Goose Produce
When: Open through at least the first weekend of October. Check Facebook or Instagram for hours.
Where: 15170 Fir Island Rd., Mount Vernon
Cost: Kids scoop $4.60 plus tax, Single scoop $7.50 plus tax
On your drive home from attending fall activities, stop by Snow Goose Produce to shop for produce, seafood, and what the farm stand calls an “immodest scoop” of ice cream. Be prepared for long lines, but the specialty ice cream from Lopez Island Creamery and Cascade Glacier in Eugene is well worth the wait. There are 48 flavors to choose from, served in house-made waffle cones.
Send us your fall event
We’ll be sharing more local fall activities in upcoming issues. Send your event information to newstips@laconnercommunitynews.org.
LieShia Ong-Sintzel is a freelance writer and former TV news producer. Her work has appeared in The Seattle Times, The Herald, and MSN.com.
