What to Know
- Oct. 5-6 festival
- Patch open Oct. 8-31 (closed Mondays)
- $5 adult festival at gate, $4 advance; pumpkin patch free to enter starting Oct. 8
No two snowflakes are quite alike, everyone knows, but the same might be said for pumpkins.
For one stem might twist to the right on this one particular squash, while another pumpkin boasts an excess of seeds.
Likewise, pumpkin patches around the region also possess their own individual characteristics and particular traits, with some offering activities, or discounts, or photo opps, or all of the above.
And the massive patch at Cal Poly Pomona? Here's its very notable headline: It has a lot of pumpkins, more pumpkins than most patches typically offer, and they're all "Cal Poly Pomona grown."
What do we mean by "a lot"?
Prepare to gaze upon 40,000-plus pumpkins, gourds that have gone the distance, growth-wise, but not gone the distance in terms of actually reaching the patch from some far-off place (because, as mentioned, they started at Cal Poly Pomona, as little seeds).
The Scene
Want to find new things to do in Los Angeles? The Scene's lifestyle stories have you covered. Here's your go-to source on where the fun is across SoCal and for the weekend.
If tens of thousands of sublime squashes tempts you, best get to this gourdful place on Oct. 5 and 6 for a grand Pumpkin Festival at AGRIscapes Agricultural Outreach Center at Cal Poly Pomona.
It's the patch's annual kick-off, it is ticketed (five bucks there, $4 in advance, for grown-ups), and there's plenty of fall festiveness afoot. Think hay rides, live music, an insect fair, a pumpkin seed spitting contest, and more seasonal merriment.
Should you simply want to call upon the Cal Poly Pomona patch to shop for a pumpkin, without the festival's foofaraw, it'll be open from Oct. 8-31, except on Mondays.
Entry is free beginning on Oct. 8. Some happenings, like the petting farm, will still be open on weekends, and fees may apply for activities happening within the patch.
But getting in starting on the 8th? No money is required to walk in the gate.
So what do 40,000 pumpkins look like, all in one general space? Turn your own hay wagon for Pomona, for one of our region's most out-sized autumnal events, one that's been around for 27 memorable years.
