Fall is hard to find in Florida, yet the 2 Chicas were yearning for a taste of autumn. Chica 2 always wanted to go to a fall festival she heard about in Manatee County. The Hunsader Farms Pumpkin Festival, which is held the last three weekends in the month of October, fit the bill.
This is a great place to take the children and for adults to have a little innocent fun!
There was a nominal entry fee of $8.00 and it was so packed, they didn't charge for parking.
There were two tents where the children can search for the perfect pumpkin and take a scenic picture in the pumpkin patch.
Man did they have a lot of pumpkins! 2 Chicas searched and searched for their great pumpkin and did not find Charlie Brown or any peanuts. Go figure.
The first stop for us was to see the Guinness Book of World Records Juggler. He was hilarious and really did a great job of getting the children in the audience involved.
He juggled balls, large dangerous looking tools, hatchets, torches, and did some of this on a unicycle that was about 10 feet tall.
Chica 2 hoped he would let her juggle the torches, but to no avail. Actually, he wouldn’t even let her juggle a ball. Tee hee he.
Next, the children ran off to tackle the corn maze, which had an additional fee of $2.00. It was really a corn field walk that is said to take 30 minutes. This type of fun is not easily found! Stroll between the corn Tee hee he! By the way, there is also a toddler sized maze for the really little ones!
Stroll the grounds of the farm and you will walk upon a number of funny treasures. There was an old army helicopter and truck for the children to explore and be photographed. There were a number of antique lawnmowers and tractors.
It was neat to see the children exclaim: “What is that thing?” Nearby there were vendors selling street fair goods. Close by, as a part of the cost for admission, was the Walker Brothers Circus.
Many of the locals were flying their remote controlled airplanes. These babies were not small at all!
Chica 2 got so excited about the World War II plane that she tried to reenact the D-Day invasion!
The local participants begged her to stop; it was a painful one woman exhibition of insanity. All of the planned stunt shows were real crowd pleasers! BMX riders treated the crowd to flips and turns, while skateboarders showed off their special tricks.
The Fearless Flores Family put on quite a show atop of a large, moving seesaw-like barrel. Chica 2 liked the red tights worn by the male performer and exclaimed, “That’s my kind of daredevil on a barrel!” She started singing “roll out the barrel; we’ll have a barrel of fun.” Chica 2 – stop it – the children are watching!
The Hartzell’s Crossbow Act was enough to get the old ticker racing. One of the stunts involved a crossbow hitting a target which triggered another set of arrows to a different target. This last action sent a bow through an apple on top of a real live human head.
Oh my! Everyone was impressed with stunt. Afterwards, Chica 2 volunteered to give it a try, but the participants wisely declined. We think they said something about liability insurance issues and disability concerns. Tee hee he!
The festival has a huge pumpkin cannon that fires on the hour so if you want to participate, be sure to plan your time accordingly.
The corn cannons on the other hand are shot off more frequently.
This is a fun, inexpensive way to get the children involved in target practice using corn cobs.
This was a huge hit with the kids, and we so admired how the staff worked tirelessly to make sure every child had a turn. Kudos to you!
Live music is provided by a variety of artists each weekend, and we had the pleasure of seeing the Sweeney Family Band. They were pure country cornpone!
They mixed good old fashioned country music with country humor. The kids had a great time dancing on stage with the group.
Although it was in the high 80s, it was still a fun excursion into fall; at least the activities were fall-like. Don’t miss out on the petting zoo, hayride or swamp buggy ride, Farm-ly Feud Game Show, Butterfly Experience, Chainsaw sculptor, and more variety than is often found at larger fairs.
There is plenty of food to choose from as well as fresh roasted corn, snow cones, homemade ice cream, and kettle corn.
The snacks did not disappoint; the corn was outstanding - sweet and buttery.
This event is a “What do you mean? You have to go!”
It is an amazing thing when people do something nice for the community.
So block off a weekend next fall; you never know, you just may run into the 2 Chicas – He Haw!
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