An updated version for 2018 can be found here

It’s that time of year! Crisp winds, fun fall outfits, Pumpkin Spice Lattes and jumping in leaves. It also means making memories at apple orchards, festivals and picking pumpkins. We’ve created a short list of the closest places to take your Bambinos. Have a favorite place to add to our list? Let us know!

Butlers Orchard 37th Annual Pumpkin Festival (22200 Davis Mill Rd, Germantown, MD 20876)
Dates of the Festival: September 30 , October 1, 7, 8, 9, 14, 15, 21, 22, 28, 29, 2017  from 10:00am-5:00pm
Spider Web, Twisted Pumpkin Corn Maze, Corn Box, Hayrides, Straw Maze, Corn Hole, Giant Slides, Pumpkin Coach, Jump in the Hayloft, Visit Barnyard Buddies, Pumpkinland, Pedal Tractors, Playground, Pumpkin Cannon, Pony Rides, Face Painting, Kids Crafts, Pumpkin Cannon on Oct. 21, 22, 28, 29,  Pick Your Own Pumpkins $0.65/lb, Festival Food and a Farm Market as you exit the Orchard. Admission $12/person over 2.

Homestead Farm (15604 Sugarland Rd, Poolesville, MD 20837)
Pick-Your-Own Fruit

Ticonderoga Farms (26175 Ticonderoga Rd, Chantilly, VA 20152)
September 23-November 5, 2017 from 10:00am-6:00pm
Admission includes hayrides, activities and access to the pick your own pumpkin field. Noah’s Ark, log cabins, hillside slides, ponds, swings, fire pits, hayrides, tire play, hay forts, rolling tunnels, s’mores roasting, animals, enormous jump and bounce pillow and so much more. Weekdays $10.95 & Weekends/Columbus Day (9th) $16.95 per person age 2 and up.

Cox Farms (15621 Braddock Rd. Centreville, VA. 20120)
Festival kickoff September 16 & 17, 2017 and then open daily September Sep 22-Oct 31 and Nov 3-7. Fall Festival hours: 10 AM-6 PM (5 PM in November)
5 Giant Slides, World Famous Hayrides, Farm Animals & Their Babies, CORNundrum Cornfield Adventure, Rope Swings, Kiddie Zone, Goat Village, Local Apples & Fresh Cider, Straw Tunnels, A Patch Pumpkin to take home, Live Entertainment, 90 acres of fun!

Summers Farm (5620 Butterfly Lane Frederick, MD 21703)
Opens September 23 – October 31, 2017
Open in the Fall each year with an old-fashioned Harvest Festival — featuring a 12 acre Corn Maze, Pumpkin Patch, more than 30 activities, live weekend music, fireworks, finger-lickin’ good food … and lots more!

Larriland (2415 Woodbine Rd, Woodbine, MD 21797)
Open through the first Sunday in November
The Straw Maze, built with over 1000 bales of straw, is a delightful place to get lost. The Straw Maze is open every day the farm is open in October. The Boo Barn is for children ages 4 – 6. It is a dark passage in the bottom of the Red Barn and is filled with animated, not too scary ghosts and goblins. The Boo Barn is open every day the farm is open in October. They offer a pumpkin hayride on weekdays and weekends in October. This wagon ride fords the stream, goes through the woods and includes a stop at the pumpkin field where everyone selects their favorite pumpkin. The farm is decorated for Halloween with ghosts and goblins to delight and scare you. The fields are laden with crisp, succulent vegetables. The orchards are bent down with apples.

Great Country Farms (18780 Foggy Bottom Rd, Bluemont, VA 20135)
Open Daily in September for Apple Picking & Corn Maze Fun from 9:00am-5:00pm
Fall Pumpkin Harvest Festival: September 26-October 31, 2017
Pumpkin Chunkin: November 4-7, 2017
Apple Gala  and Cider Fest is every weekend in September
Celebrate with tastings of this season’s best ciders and demonstrations of our antique cider press. Pick your pumpkins and apples, fire pumpkins from a cannon, enjoy cider donuts, get lost in a corn maze and visit with the pumpkin princess at Pumpkin Harvest Festival and bring your leftover pumpkins to Pumpkin Chukin.

Clark’s Elioak Farm (10500 State Rte 108 Ellicott City, MD. 21042)
Open through November 5, 2017
Petting farm animals, Hayrides, Cow Train Rides, Pony Rides, Birthday Parties, Educational Tours, Enchanted Pine Tree Forest, Special Weekend Events, Enchanted Forest Attractions and Fall Season Pumpkin Patch. Open Tues-Sun.

Leesburg Animal Park and Pumpkin Village (19270 James Monroe Hwy, Leesburg, VA 20175)
Open September 16-November 7 from 9:30am-6:00pm
Halloween Costume Contest 10/24 & 10/25
Giant hill slides, hay wagon rides, pet and feed animals,  free apple and cider snack with admission, free mini-pumpkin, kids maze, camel rides and live entertainment, pedal carts, face painting on weekends.

Wayside Farm (5273 Harry Byrd Hwy, Berryville, VA 22611)
September 23-October 29, 2017 on weekends from 10:00am-6:00pm
This year’s maze theme is Pokemon…come see if you can wind your way through our 10-acre maze. The popular pig races will run at 11:30am, 1:30pm and 3:30pm on festival days. And don’t forget to visit the huge pumpkin patch where you can pick your very own pumpkin right from the the vine! The farm offers hayrides, pig races, slides, and playgrounds. In addition to offering plenty of entertainment, this working farm has an 8-acre u-pick pumpkin patch. Nestled in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, Wayside Farm is an idyllic farm setting for families looking for the ultimate farm adventure this fall. Wayside Farm would like to offer our readers 20% off admission this fall- mention Beltway Bambinos at the booth!

 

Readers also recommend:

Sharps at Waterford Farm

Pumpkin Playground

 

Festivals:
Maryland Renaissance Festival: Weekends August 26-October 22, 2017

Barracks Row Fall Festival: September 23, 2017

Frederick Oktoberfest:September 29-October 1, 2017