Fall is the best time of the year to get out there and explore the festivals and farms in your neighborhood. I love creating fall family traditions and fall traditions for us means visiting farms and fall festivals in and around Rochester, New York. New York is the best place to be for fall because it is gorgeous this time of year!
We spent the day visiting Powers Farm Market. The last time we visited was in 2012 and I remembered some of the fun and unique activities they had. I was really excited to take the kids this year.
Powers Farm Market has a market with holiday decorations and food. A tepee Halloween attraction, pumpkins for purchase, animals to feed, and a haunted hayride.
The first thing we did was the walk through tepee. This is a hand made tepee covered in hay. Inside it is dark and has carved pumpkins glowing and skeletons. It is more fun then scary. Nothing jumps out at you but the skeletons make some noises. When we visited in 2012 my daughter was terrified of this!! I think that is why we waited so long to return. On this visit she loved it!! The pumpkins were very cool!
We had already purchased our hayride tickets inside the market and got in line to ride the haunted hayride. During the day the hayride is geared toward families. At night they do a more adult themed haunted hayride. I was a little concerned with the cost of the hayride. The price per person was $6.25+tax and free for under 2. With 5 people that can be a little pricey but we wanted to give it a try. It was SO worth it! The time and creativity that went into the hayride was awesome. It was interactive and had animatronics throughout. There was so much more than I expected. We were all so impressed with it.
First you enter Witch’s Hollow along a path of hanging bats. Along the path there are witches in the woods, trees, and above. From there you enter an area full of scarecrows and then continue through to the skeleton area. At this point we stop and the driver starts a surprise. I won’t let on to too much but it is not scary at all! It is really fun!! Most of the skeletons are doing silly things like taking a bath, reading books, and roasting s’mores.
After the skeletons we go through a cemetery that has some animatronics. Again no real scare factor for the little ones. We move on to the spider area. I will let you in on a little surprise…the spiders move up and down. Depending on your child they may get a little scared. If they cover their eyes or are distracted they should be fine. My kids were okay with it. They all held our hands a little tighter but were not upset by it. (They can be easily freaked out by Halloween stuff too! Even going into the Halloween store can cause them to be scared!)
At this point the rain had started and we were thankful to enter a tunnel. The doors close behind you and the lights go out. This part was a really cool ending to the hayride. I won’t spoil it for your family because it is a fun surprise. I will say there was nothing scary about it at all.
We had a blast on the hayride. The value for what you pay for shows in the care and creativity they put into it. At this point it was pouring rain. The kids wanted to check out the animals. Thankfully they were mostly covered by trees so we were able to do this without getting soaked. They have deer, bunnies, alpaca, sheep, a donkey, a mini-horse…I may be missing some. They have a lot of animals!! There are quarter machines with food for the animals and hand sanitizer for when you are done. The animals here are beautiful!! My favorite was the baby deer. So cute!
After feeding the animals we took our picture in front of the set up along the side of the market. They have it set up for a great photo op for your family. It was raining pretty hard at this point so I took a quick one and we got inside. I love all the fall decorations! They had painted pumpkins, witches, and lots of fall desserts. We decided on doughnuts! (of course!) I highly recommend the pumpkin doughnuts. They were fantastic!
Powers Farm Market is a great fall family tradition to start with your family. You can see the attention to details that they put into everything. The staff is kind and friendly. We had a great time and might have to return for another visit this season.
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Leah has been traveling with her family of 5 since 2012 and sharing her expertise on planning family vacations and visiting theme parks since 2016. Leah has been featured in Visit Rochester, Undercover Tourist, and Home Publications. She has worked with brands like Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando, Hersheypark, Toyota, and various Tourism boards and destinations. Leah creates family travel itineraries based on real trip experiences with her family. Her guides and tips help others plan great family vacations. Learn more about Leah and Five for the Road.