Iron Kettle Farm

I have some fond memories of visiting Iron Kettle with my grandma when I was a small child. I adored the pumpkin people and all of the fun activities. I was visiting my parents and decided to take my little one to the farm. We ventured out on a cold and rainy Friday afternoon. There were 5 adults and 2 two year olds.
The place is much smaller than I remember, but they had a ton of pumpkin people. They had a lot of the old favorites (pumpkin man in the outhouse) and some newer additions as well. Some of the pumpkins had rotted and weren’t replaced which was a bit disappointing (it was the day before Halloween so that may have been why they didn’t replace them?).
The farm itself was pretty dead. They do this thing now where you have to buy tickets to do anything and it’s rather annoying. I don’t mind them charging, they should definitely get some revenue to keep the place up, but why tickets? It forces me to either constantly buy tickets or pre-​plan to figure out how many tickets I need. Many of the pumpkin farms I visited in Oregon required a wrist band, which is so much more convenient. You pay one price and then have access to do whatever you would like. Lucky for us they weren’t really policing anything so we were able to walk through the farm for free. We enjoyed the animals, particularly the variety. They had turkeys, pigs, cows, chickens, and goats, everything a toddler loves. We did buy tickets for a wagon ride. The wagon ride was fun, it does a big loop where you can see more pumpkin people and some long horned cows. We ended up buying a few sweets and some pumpkins and were on our way.
We enjoyed our visit, but the people working weren’t super friendly and the ticket system was annoying. I love the pumpkin people and it’s really unique, they should continue to develop them.

There is absolutely nothing negative to ever say about Iron Kettle. I’ve been coming here since I was a kid and even though I’m out of the area my parents still live in Vestal and I make a point to get here every October.
The farm is family run which is party of the charm. It’s also been around forever it seems. It’s the perfect fall family outing. There are barn yard animals the kids can feed, a corn maze, a very large selection of gourds and pumpkins, as well as a sort of country store filled with craft items, sweet treats, and seasonal décor.
Food and drink can also be bought. There are also wagons to carry all your selections. The best thing about the farm, in my opinion, are the displays they put up every year. They show scenes from nursery rhymes and childhood stories all with pumpkins.
And if that’s not enough, it’s all free (unless you choose you buy something, obviously).

We went to Iron Kettle this past weekend for the trial/​preview weekend. It was a little early in the season and they were still doing some pumpkin painting and setting up. But I didn’t want to miss one of my favorite fall activities when we were in town. The pumpkin exhibits are always well-​done and adorable. Great for little kids and big kids alike. The exhibits don’t change too much year over year but I still love seeing them. Grandma’s barn gift shop has a lot of cute stuff too.

Iron Kettle failed to meet my expectations for a variety of reasons. The activities were all over –priced ($ 6 for a wagon ride) and the displays were not nearly as creative as in years past. A decade ago the displays looked as though they required effort, this year the pumpkins were simply dressed in zip up costumes. In addition, several of the accent pumpkins between displays were noticeably rotted. The overall setup was disorganized and poorly marked. The young adults taking tickets at one of activities were incredibly unfriendly and disinterested in the paying visitors in general.

Met my son and his family here.
First off, the map misquided me — it sent me off on some country road when the fall amusement farm, Iron Kettle, is located right on Hwy. 96, south of Candor and the intersection with 96B.
Second, this place is justly crowded with families with young and school-​age children on the weekend, and the activities are geared to them.
Yummy caramel apples.
I don’t like being in crowds like this.