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Pumpkin Season

The following is also posted at examiner.com. I occasionally write articles for Examiner under the title of Lincoln Early Childhood Parenting Examiner. If you are interested in more articles under that theme, I recommend subscribing to my content there.

Pumpkin season is here and there are plenty of places to get pumpkins for pies, decorations, carving, and whatever else you might like to do with a pumpkin.

The expedient option of finding one in a grocery or discount store bin exists. This involves all the fun of selecting one from a variety at the top of a bin in the main isle of the store while you are out tackling that always growing shopping list.

Some families might find it more fun, however, to go out to a farm and select their pumpkins out of a patch. There are a couple of great places to go for this activity which include many other family fun activities as well.

Roca Scary Farm

In Roca, NE there is a Berry Farm which turns into a "Scary Farm" as Halloween nears. The owners believe that this is the sincere pumpkin patch that Linus is looking for in "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown". The patch is open from 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. starting this Saturday through October 31. The cost during the weekdays is $6.50 and on the weekends is $9.00 per person.

There is a hayrack ride which goes out to the patch, but that is only the beginning of the activities that Roca Scary Farm has to offer. There is a corn maze to wander through, a life sized candyland game, farm animals, trike trails, and a cafe to fuel yourself up. There is also a Roca Shootout laser tag game. Then things change a little bit at night.

Starting from 5:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. on certain nights, there are some separate activities to enjoy. A Psycho Path is a 20 minute walk through the ghost ridden woods and over an old wooden bridge is not recommended for younger kids. There is a haunted hayrack ride through the patch. There is also a Haunted Manor which is allegedly guaranteed to make you scream.

Roca Scary Farm is located in Roca, NE. Directions to it are available at this link.

Vala's Pumpkin Patch

Vala's opened last weekend on September 17. It will be open from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. on Sunday through Thursday and 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. on Friday and Saturday through October 31. It costs $12.99 per person on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. The other days of the week, the price is reduced to $9.99. The patch itself will be ready for visitors this Friday.

Vala's has a lot going for it besides the pumpkin patch. There are shows, rides, and themed attractions.

Some of the shows are live and some of them are animatronic. One show is a pig race which always seems popular with the young children there. There are a couple of animatronic bands, namely the Scarecrow Band and the Animal Band. There is also a pumpkin chucking show which features a cannon that can chuck a pumpkin up to a quarter mile.

As for the rides, there is plenty to choose from. Of course there has to be a hayrack ride going out to the patch. No pumpkin patch is complete without that. There are also four different pedal car tracks for kids of varying ages. You will also find train rides on cars pulled by a replica Jupiter train engine at the Pumpkin Creek Railroad.

There are many other attractions at Vala's as well. One of the favorites is the three acre corn maze that lies near the pumpkin patch. There are also several haunted houses for varying degrees of scare tolerance including a non-scary storybook barn for those who prefer no scare at all. There is also a mine and a play area which can be fun for the very young kids.

Vala's is probably one of the most popular patches in the state. It is just off interstate I-80 near Gretna, NE. The address is12102 S. 180th Street, Gretna, NE.

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  1. [...] finally got out to one of our favorite pumpkin patches this weekend. We chose to go to Vala’s because I thought there would be more for Jupiter to [...]

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