Taking the Kids: 10 fall festivals for families
Who gets the prize? Who can pick the most apples or find the biggest pumpkin?
There are literally hundreds of Octoberfests around the country this fall -- some kid-friendly -- but there are also plenty of apple, pumpkin and harvest festivals from which to choose. You can stomp on grapes in Sonoma County, California, trail the sheep in Idaho or listen to Elk bugle in Estes Park, Colorado.
Let's not forget corn mazes, carnival rides, petting zoos and leaves at their most glorious, whether you're in the Northeast or Northwest, Midwest or the Rockies.
Head out, even for a day, and come back with rosy cheeks, pumpkins to carve, a bushel of crunchy apples and at least one Instagram-worthy photo. When was the last time you made an apple pie or apple sauce with the kids?
Family Travel Forum has compiled a national list of where you can pick pumpkins and apples. Outside of Philadelphia, for example, in Bucks County, Shady Brook Farm celebrates PumpkinFest on weekends from late September through October. Don't miss the giant corn maze!
In Harvard, Illinois, right near the Wisconsin border, the family owned Royal Oak Farm Orchard has a new Amaze‘n Apples apple tree maze with 2,500 trees representing nine different varieties -- the only apple tree maze of its kind in the country.
And in Highpoint, N.C., besides finding your way through a 10-acre corn maze at Maize Adventure, you can mine for gems, dig for fossils and even zipline.
Take a long weekend and visit a national park this fall and see how many colorful leaves and animals you can see -- it will be a lot less crowded than in summer. The Obama administration has launched its second year of the Every Kid in a Park pass, which enables fourth-graders and their families to visit national parks at no charge. Because there are so many elk in fall at Rocky Mountain National Park, for example, October is known as "Elktober."
On the other side of the big, Colorado park, Snow Mountain Ranch touts affordable Fall Fest weekends in September and October with donut bobbing, s'mores, scarecrow building, pumpkin seed splitting and more -- all included with rooms that start at just $79 in September.)
Here's a fun fact for the kids: If the number of apples picked in Washington were placed side by side, they'd circle Earth 29 times. No wonder Washington leads the country in apple production -- more than 66 percent of the total U.S. production. And, in case you're wondering, the other top states leading in apple production are New York, Michigan, Pennsylvania and California. Head to the Washington State Fair where junior gardeners compete to win a ribbon for the best apple, pear, plum, etc. There is also a kids' pumpkin carving contest, along with plenty of other family activities. (The fair runs until Sept.25.)
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