"Expect a great fall festival atmosphere, get away from the city, come take your kids and show them where fruit's grown and get stuff fresh from the farmer while supporting local businesses." That's Todd Beck talking to The Spokesman-Review about Beck's Harvest House, now in its 39th fall festival.
If you live in Colbert, you don't need anyone to tell you about the "get away from the city" part. What changes your plans is the calendar. Green Bluff doesn't close on Halloween. It slows down in steps, and many farms move to shorter weekend hours from November into December. This year Colbert also has a new store on Highway 395 that is open every day. That gives the slow months something they haven't had before.
Four Festival Weekends Left, and They Don't All End Together
As of Sunday, October 4, most of the big Green Bluff festivals have three full weekends left plus Saturday, October 31. One ends a weekend early.
- The Farmhouse on Green Bluff runs its Fall Festival Saturdays and Sundays through October 25, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission and parking are free. It also hosted Howl'oween on the Bluff today, with a dog costume contest, corgi races and live music. The Spokesman-Review counted more than 40 vendors.
- Beck's Harvest House, 9919 E. Greenbluff Road, runs its Fall Harvest Festival every Saturday and Sunday through October 31.
- Walter's Fruit Ranch holds its Fall Festival on weekends through October 31, with apple picking, pumpkins, sunflowers, a corn maze, tractor rides, food and live music.
- High Country Orchard started its festival this weekend, October 3, and runs every weekend through October 31. Expect pumpkins, pre-picked apples, donuts, live music and vendors, plus a Halloween scavenger hunt on the 31st.
- Monster Farm runs through October 31. The pumpkin patch is open daily 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and the full festival runs Friday through Sunday.
If The Farmhouse is part of your October plans, aim for the weekend of October 24 and 25 at the latest. After that, every other farm on this list has one more weekend.
What a Festival Weekend Costs, and Where It's Free
Admission works differently at each farm, and so does parking. You'll only see the difference if you visit more than one.
| Farm | Admission | Parking |
|---|---|---|
| The Farmhouse on Green Bluff | Free | Free |
| Beck's Harvest House | Free farm entry; Funland wristband extra | $5, reserve weekends ahead |
| Monster Farm | $6 per person Fri to Sun; 2 and under free; weekdays free with fewer attractions | Free, no reservation |
Sources disagree on the price of the Beck's Funland wristband. Beck's own festival page lists $12 online or $15 at the gate. The Spokesman-Review's late-September roundup gave a range of $6 to $12. Check Beck's ticket link before you go. Funland covers a 5-acre corn maze, wagon rides, a jump pillow, the cow train, Tire Mountain and corn cannons.
On weekdays, the festival extras mostly go away. Beck's runs its festival activities only on weekends, though the farm itself stays open other days. Monster Farm keeps its pumpkin patch open daily, and entry is free on weekdays. If you live close enough to go on a Tuesday afternoon, you can pick pumpkins without paying for a festival you don't need.
Green Bluff Growers notes that apple supply depends on the weather and asks visitors to check with each farm directly. In late October, calling ahead before you load the car is worth it.
November 1 Is When the Hours Change
The real turning point is the first day of November, not Halloween. That's when Green Bluff splits into farms that close for the season and farms that move to shorter hours.
Walter's Fruit Ranch is the clearest example. Through October, its store and cafe are open Monday to Thursday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Friday to Sunday 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Starting November 1, hours drop to Friday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and they stay that way into mid-December.
Other farms run on their own schedules:
| Farm | Listed season after October |
|---|---|
| Walter's Fruit Ranch, 9807 E. Day Road | Fri to Sun, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., November to mid-December; Christmas trees |
| High Country Orchard, 8518 E. Greenbluff Road | Open seven days, roughly 9 to 5, through December 23 |
| Hansen's Green Bluff Orchard, 8215 E. Greenbluff Road | Choose-and-cut trees and handcrafted wreaths starting the day after Thanksgiving |
| Beck's Harvest House | Regular season listed as Memorial Day weekend to Halloween |
| Hidden Acres Orchards | Daily hours listed for May to October only |
High Country has the longest listed season of the group. Its website says wreath-making classes for November and December are "coming soon," with no dates posted yet. Most of these directory listings don't show a publish date, so check with each farm before a November trip.
The Second Season Starts the Day After Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving is the fourth Thursday of November, which this year is November 26, so the holiday season on Green Bluff starts Friday, November 27. Green Bluff Growers says its tree farms are generally open between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Hansen's starts choose-and-cut trees that day, with hot cocoa and s'mores around a bonfire.
The Farmhouse on Green Bluff has listed Christmas on the Farm for three weekends:
- November 27, 28 and 29
- December 4, 5 and 6
- December 11, 12 and 13
The Farmhouse says more details are coming. For now, the dates are enough to know that the quiet stretch between Halloween and Thanksgiving lasts less than four weeks.
Midway Market Doesn't Follow a Farm Schedule
Until this year, a Colbert errand outside farm season meant driving into town. Midway Market changed that. It's an 18,000-square-foot grocery and convenience store at Highway 395 and Hatch Road. The Deer Park Gazette reported that it soft-opened on Saturday, July 25. The grand opening was first set for August 5, and a later store post moved it to Wednesday, August 12.
The store has ten departments. They include produce from farms in Washington and Idaho, a full-service butcher counter with custom cuts and dry-aged beef, a bakery, specialty cheese and charcuterie, and craft beer, wine and spirits. Outside is a Sinclair station with the green dinosaur, selling unleaded, diesel and ethanol-free fuel. Owner Cary Snow founded PURE Coffee, and the store's coffee bar, PURE Origin Bean and Process, roasts beans on-site. Steve Fels is the general manager. The bistro serves breakfast and lunch. The store's PURE Coffee page lists lattes, cappuccinos, drip and cold brew all day.
Hours are what tie the market to the Green Bluff calendar. Apple Maps lists Midway as open Monday through Friday 5 a.m. to 10 p.m., and weekends 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Those are directory hours, not hours posted by the store, but they suggest a seven-day schedule. That's very different from a farm like Walter's, which moves to three days a week, six hours a day, on November 1.
The market's late-summer posts show it changing with the seasons too. There were fresh-roasted Hatch chiles at $3.99 a pound in mid-August, a newly cracked wheel of Parmesan at $5 off per pound, and Mary Lou's ice cream scoops Friday through Sunday. Midway's website also lists online shopping as "coming soon."
Planning the Next Ten Weeks
Here's how the season lays out from today. Three festival weekends remain at The Farmhouse and four at Beck's, Walter's, High Country and Monster Farm. October 31 is the last Saturday for most of them. Starting November 1, Walter's moves to Friday through Sunday, High Country keeps its daily schedule, and Beck's and Hidden Acres come off their listed seasons. On November 27, tree season opens at Hansen's and Christmas on the Farm starts at The Farmhouse. Midway Market, at Highway 395 and Hatch Road, keeps its schedule through all of it.
We live and work around these same seasons, from October parking reservations on Greenbluff Road to quiet November weekends when the farms run shorter hours. If you're thinking about how life in Colbert works through the year, or what that's worth when you sell, Inland Empire Home Team is happy to talk it over, whether you'd like to meet over coffee or on a Saturday at the farms.
