McCall’s is more than a pumpkin patch

Carve out some time this fall to visit McCall’s Pumpkin Patch and Haunted Farm, open now through Nov. 1.

Kevin McCall, co-founder of the farm, enjoys seeing visitors wander the pumpkin patch and corn maze.

“Seeing the families put technology down and come out to a working farm,” McCall said, “that’s what we pride ourselves in.”

The pumpkin patch is in its 28th year and has grown from what used to be a place for school field trips to one of the top patches in the country, according to McCall.

When it was field trips, McCall saw a child looking at the pumpkins being loaded to go to wholesale stores and noticed that they were the ones he bought in the store.

“It was pretty cool to see a kid connect the dots,” McCall said. “That that is where his food, his pumpkin … his agricultural product came from.”

The farm no longer sells pumpkins to wholesalers. Instead, it leaves all the pumpkins for visitors to pick.

While tickets get visitors into the patch and include various activities like the hayride, the pumpkins themselves and some other activities come at additional cost.

McCall said when he and his family started McCall’s, they had high hopes, but never thought they would reach the size and popularity they have achieved.

He said about 24 years ago, the pumpkin patch grew to include a Haunted Barn and Haunted Corn Field: Field of Screams, nighttime attractions that are part of McCall’s Haunted Farm.

“We took the old cattle barn, turned it into what we call the slaughterhouse,” McCall said. “And then we take a corn maze, a separate corn maze from the daytime maze, and we haunt that on Friday and Saturday nights.”

He said the barn is suitable for ages 13 and up.

“It’s a fall entertainment farm,” McCall said. “(It is) more than just your pumpkin patch.”

McCall said it only gets “busier and more crowded the further into the season,” so get there early.

People should plan to visit the pumpkin patch for a full day to hit all the activities, he said.

“People think that ‘We’ll just go out for a couple hours,’” McCall said. “Well, you’re going to be sorely disappointed when you can’t do it all.”

McCall said the atmosphere at the pumpkin patch throughout the season can be boiled down to three things.

“Family time, food and being in the country,” McCall said.

McCall’s is more than a pumpkin patch