Pumpkin season in the Snohomish Valley
Corn mazes, u-pick patches, hayrides and the occasional flying pumpkin. Here’s where to find them, and the farms and local businesses that make fall out here worth the drive.
Fall out here has been a family tradition for a long time
In the early 2000s, a handful of family farms between Snohomish and Lake Stevens started promoting their pumpkin patches together under one name: the Snohomish Festival of Pumpkins. Each farm kept its own patch and its own maze. They just agreed it made more sense to send people up the road to each other than to compete for the same weekend crowd.
It worked. By the mid-2010s the festival farms were seeing something like 200,000 visitors every fall. This website was the festival’s home online, and we’re keeping it going as a guide to the valley in autumn and a place to tell the stories of the farms and local businesses that keep this part of Snohomish County worth visiting.
The farms
Seven family farms, all a short drive from each other. Hours and prices change every season, so check the farm’s own website before you head out.
Bob’s Corn & Pumpkin Farm
A former dairy on Elliott Road with a big corn maze, 60-plus pumpkin varieties and a hayride out to the field.
Craven Farm
Free to walk in. A 30-acre u-pick patch with more than 50 kinds of pumpkins and squash, and you only pay for what you do.
Carleton Farm
Over in Lake Stevens. Apple and pumpkin cannons, a corn maze, and a giant jumping pad that small kids will not want to leave.
Stocker Farms
Look for the big red barn on Marsh Road. A 10-acre pumpkin patch and a corn maze with a habit of ambitious designs.
Swans Trail Farms
Home of the corn maze shaped like Washington State. Around 50 acres of pumpkins, plus u-pick apples in season.
Thomas Family Farm
Pumpkin patch by day. After dark it’s night mazes, a haunted trail and fire pits on fall weekends.
Bailey Family Farm
Farmed by the same family since 1913. Quieter, good prices, and a play barn with rope swings and hay bales.
Pumpkin, meet trebuchet
Starting in 2008, the festival kicked off each September with the Snohomish Pumpkin Hurl & Medieval Faire out on Ebey Island. Homebuilt trebuchets lobbed 8-pound pumpkins across a farm field while knights jousted and kids learned to fight with foam swords. One year an 11-year-old from Mukilteo entered a 5-foot trebuchet he built for a class project.
From the blog
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Why We’re Opening the Blog to Local Businesses
Festival of Pumpkins is growing beyond October, with stories about the farms, shops and people that make the Snohomish Valley worth visiting.
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Which Snohomish Pumpkin Farm Is Right for Your Family?
Toddlers, thrill-seekers, maze fans or teens? A quick guide to choosing between the seven Snohomish Valley pumpkin farms.
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How to Pick a Pumpkin That Makes It to Halloween
What farmers look for in the patch, which pumpkins are best for carving or baking, and how to keep yours from caving in early.
Run a business in the valley?
We’re starting to feature local shops, restaurants, growers and makers on the blog. If you’d like to be one of them, or you want to sponsor a season of farm coverage, we’d like to hear from you.
Before you head out
- Wear boots. It’s Western Washington in October. The fields get muddy.
- Check hours first. Each farm sets its own schedule, and some activities only run on weekends.
- Leave the dog at home. Pets aren’t allowed on the farms, for their safety and everyone else’s.
- Charge your phone. You’ll take more pictures in the pumpkin patch than you expect to.
More tips, a sample day and directions are on the Plan Your Visit page.