October 21, 2023 @ 4:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Now in its ninth year, Plainville Pumpkinfest is a downtown outdoor festival featuring live music, a kid’s costume parade, kid’s games, bounce houses, a large variety of food trucks, spooky haunted house, local vendors, downtown restaurants and businesses. Proceeds benefit the Plainville Community Fund.
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Looking for a fun day out this fall? Make sure you include CT Grown on your itinerary! With tasty products and unforgettable experiences all throughout the harvest season, Connecticut farms help give autumn its unique character. Whether you’re looking for an interesting weekend activity or need a fun family excursion, you can find it at a local farm.
Don’t miss these CT Grown experiences while celebrating the “fall-idays” this year.
Pick your own apples
For many Connecticut families, visiting an apple orchard and picking your own apples is a beloved tradition. Take home a bag for snacking, or grab a few bushels to use in your baking and keep in storage during the winter. Please be sure to check ahead for availability, and follow the farm’s rules for the best experience.
Get some apple cider
We look forward to apple cider all year! This tangy beverage is delicious whether it’s warmed up with cinnamon and spices, served cold, or served extra cold as a cider slushie. And once cider season is back, apple cider donuts make their return as well! These treats are the perfect balance of apple, cinnamon, and sugar, and are a must-have to complement the crisp fall days.
Visit a pumpkin patch
Whether you need to find just the right pumpkin for a Halloween jack o’lantern or a selection of smaller specimens for your fall decorations, a visit to the pumpkin patch is in order. This is a particularly fun activity for children, who love to scramble among the pumpkins and find one that catches their eye.
Get lost in a corn maze
The distinctive corn mazes at Connecticut farms are projects that take months of planning and preparation. Once fall arrives, you can see the results of all this hard work and challenge yourself to navigate these intricate labyrinths. In addition to daytime visits, farms often schedule special evening events inviting people to try the maze by flashlight.
Enjoy a hayride
A hayride is a uniquely fall-flavored way to tour the farm fields. Hay bales are stacked in a wagon to provide surprisingly comfortable seating as a tractor pulls you along. Some farms pair hayrides with special fall events, such as spooky “haunted hayrides” for Halloween.
Have some seasonal ice cream
Too chilly for ice cream? Never! Though temperatures are dropping, farm ice cream stands remain open with fall flavors like pumpkin, gingerbread, or apple pie. Many of these stands close for the winter, so don’t miss this last chance for a special treat!
Find a fall fair or festival
Join the festivities! Fall is a popular time of year for festivals in Connecticut, with events celebrating the state’s bounty of apples, pumpkins, garlic, flowers, and more. Agricultural fair season winds down in October, but there are still a few last celebrations you can check out during the fall.
Stop by the farmers’ market
Most CT Grown products are in season in October, and the local farmers’ market is a great way to put CT Grown on your plate! You can find a market in just about every community in Connecticut, giving you a chance to peruse goods from local farms, connect with farmers, and enjoy live music and other activities. Outdoor farmers’ markets typically close their season at the end of October, but many communities continue their markets indoors during the winter.
Celebrate Aquaculture Month
Connecticut’s seafaring traditions have been part of the state’s culture for generations, with the proximity of Long Island Sound and the Atlantic Ocean giving the state convenient access to a wide range of aquaculture goods. There are 60,000 acres of shellfish beds harvested commercially along the Connecticut shoreline, and you can also find products like clams, mussels, lobsters, squid, and finfish hauled in by local fishermen. Kelp has also been growing in popularity, with a growing number of coastal farms harvesting this product.
Get ready for Thanksgiving
Start your preparations for the big Thanksgiving feast early! CT Grown farms are taking orders for turkeys, and reserving your bird ahead of time helps guarantee that you’ll have one available in November. You can also check with your local farm to get potatoes, green beans, homemade pies, wines, and other supplies for the holiday.
Dappled sunlight.
Distant laughter.
The unique rustle of cornstalks in an early autumn breeze.
We wait all year for the annual tradition of corn mazes and every year, CT Grown farms deliver the best experiences for families from throughout New England.
This year, more than ever, our farmers are ready to welcome familiar faces and first-time visitors to mazes that are as unique as the farms hosting them. From trending cartoon characters to iconic symbols of agriculture, there are many options for getting lost for an afternoon far from the distractions of technology.
For many farms, the corn mazes are just the beginning of the fall fun. Find your way to the nearest exit by following the smell of popping kettle corn, freshly baked cider donuts or the sound of wine bottles uncorking.
“We know that families are seeking to spend the greater part of their day when they come to our corn maze,” shares John Lyman of Lyman Orchards in Middletown. “Whether we are discovered for the first time, or the location of choice for generations, every year we seek to add to our offerings so every guest feels like it’s their first visit.”
Just how do Connecticut farmers create these complex mazes in the first place?
Well they plan far, far ahead. Once an idea or theme is resolved, the design is then sketched out using a computer program, or on graph paper. By setting up a grid system or using GPS, the maze paths are then outlined and marked in the field.
Corn mazes begin to take shape in mid-summer, when corn sprouts are just starting to grow. The paths are mowed and then raked, weeded, and covered with straw or other bedding to ensure the maze retains the desired shape.
The process takes so much effort that there are companies that specialize in corn mazes — working with farmers to design, build and help promote the finished product.
Speaking of products, nothing goes to waste at your favorite corn maze. When the season concludes, the corn is picked, ground up, and turned into livestock feed. Stalks are plowed under to fertilize the soil and support next year’s maze.
What should you know about visiting a CT Grown Corn Maze?
There is often a modest entrance fee to enter a corn maze — covering the year-long costs of growing and creating the fun.
Before you go, it’s a good idea to check the farm website or social media for information on hours, weather conditions, and advice on how old children should be to attempt the maze. Most farms offer refreshments, so the only thing you’ll need to bring with you are comfortable shoes and maybe sunscreen for a bright day.
For some great resources about the best corn maze options in Connecticut, visit the official website for Connecticut Tourism: ctvisit.com and search “corn mazes.” There you will find all you need to get lost.
CT Grown corn mazes — it’s a way of life.