US: Midwest, Best Corn Mazes and Fall Festivals for Family Fun.
From Iowa, Missouri tand Kansas to North Dakota and South Dakota seasonal celebrations are in full swing. Disconnect for a day and make time for fun.
Missouri: Sikeston, Beggs Family Farm - Fall Festival, Corn Maze, and Pumpkin Patch (10/1/2011 to 10/30/2011). Share the fun on a real working farm that has been in business since 1895. Each season Beggs creates an awesome corn mazes and hosts a fun-loving festival. There’s time for close encounters with pigs, chickens, sheep, goats, and cows plus they offer a long list of authentic farm life activities including: wagon rides, a bonfire, pumpkin picking, straw jump, pig races, a real gemstone mining sluice, rope maze, corn cob cannon practice, farm rover races, and a monster slide.
Best part: Stay around after sunset and play golf by moonlight in the barnyard.
(Beggs Family Farm 2319 St Hwy U Sikeston, MO 63801. (573) 471-387 or
www.beggsfamilyfarm.com)
South Dakota: Harrisburg, Heartland Country Corn Maze (08/5/2011 - 10/23/2010). North of Canton and south of Sioux Falls towering stalks of corn farm dozens of passageways in this year’s 11-acre maze. Anchored along the trails within the corn are 10 checkpoints with questions about local history, agriculture and local geography making the experience more like a corn quest. The same experience may be repeated by flashlight creating and an entirely different maze adventure.
Best part: On Halloween weekend the maze will be haunted.
Bonus points: Those who discover the hidden checkpoint will receive free treat. (Heartland Country Corn Maze 27455 SD Hwy 11, Harrisburg, SD 57032. (605) 743-5984 or
www.heartlandcountrycornmaze.com)
Kansas: Buhler, Gaeddert Farms Corn Maze and Pumpkin Patch (09/24/2011 – 10/30/2011).
For more than a decade Gaeddert Farms has been creating unique corn mazes. Each year guests are invited to navigate through the five-acre corn maze, and enjoy a hayrack ride out to
the pick-your-own pumpkin patch. Some things are free and some cost a fee but it’s all pure Kansas-style fun.
Activities inlcude a jumping pillow, double tunnel slides, hay bale maze, hay jump, tire mountain and tire tunnel, pumpkin bowling, barrel train, teeter-totters, sand box, and steer roping. Try your skills with the pumpkin cannon, sling a pumpkin or try to hit a target with the corn cannon.
Best part: On weekends see the maze using a flashlight or navigate by moonlight.
Here's the deal. Look for a discount coupon at their website. (Gaeddert & Martisko Farms 13209 E. 82nd Ave. Buhler, KS 67522. (620) 543-3073 or
www.kansasmaze.com)
Iowa: St. Urbandale, Living History Farms Harvest Fests (09/10/2011 - 09/11/2011 and 10/20/2011 - 10/22/2011). Walnut Hill will celebrate with a mix of modern and Victorian entertainments including, carnival games and strolling players. Enjoy pony rides, old-fashioned carnival games and the 1875 traveling museum of curiosities. Try your hand at stirring apple butter or cranking the cider press, and sample apple fritter right out of the dutch oven.
The Walnut Hill Amateur Dramatic Society will perform
Peril on the Prairie and conduct a children’s participation pantomime.
Learn about the history of corn with hands-on activities and a horse-drawn wagon ride into the fields to watch demonstrations of the machinery used to harvest corn.
Best part: Family Halloween Nights include wagon rides, marshmallow rosst and jack-o-lanterns - ideal for families with young children.
Bonus points: Even more fun, on Sunday time travel to a historic baseball game. (Living History Farms, 11121 Hickman Road, Urbandale, IA 50322. (515) 278-5286 or
www.lhf.org)
North Dakota: Fargo, Dakota Carriage Company Pumpkin Patch and Corn Maze (09/24/2011 – 10/30/2011). You will find hundreds of pumpkins from which to choose plus cornstalks, straw bales, and gourds. Oodles of activities are free with paid gate admission to the pumpkin patch. Activities include: horse-drawn wagon rides, pony rides, bale maze, corn maze, barrel train rides, miniature golf, cow milking, spook house, giant backyard games.
Best part: For families with young children the petting zoo is a must and even more fun try milking a cow with your child.
Bonus points: Private campfire sites are available on weekends. (Dakota Carriage Company 7414 40th Avenue North, Fargo, ND 58102. (701) 347-4069, (701) 282-9392 or
www.dakotacarriagecompany.com)
Please tell mom! We want to expand the list and need your help. If you have a favorite fall festival or know of an awesome corn maze please
"Tell Mom" and we will add it to the list. Make sure to include the name of the festival or event and its location on the planet as well as why you like it or what makes it worth the trip. Our next round up will include family-friendly winter celebrations and enchanting Santa Trains. We are building the list right now and would love to have your feedback. So just
"Tell Mom!" Information compiled from our extensive database as of August 2011. Images provided Beggs Farm, Gaeddert Farms, and Living History Farms. Sometimes things change, so please confirm details before making plans. Updated by Scott Kamps-Duac, Copyright 2011. 