Have you carved a jack-o’-lantern yet? Huffman can hook you up.  

Huffman Farms is a first generation family farm started by Hillary Huffman. The farm is home to a yearly pumpkin patch, corn maze and other Halloween attractions. 

Huffman bought the farm six years ago after being laid off from a general manager position at a resort winery. When she asked herself what would come next, Huffman turned to pumpkins.

“I had never touched a pumpkin in my life,” Huffman said. “The very first year was only a one-day festival, just to see if I could pull it off, to see if people even wanted pumpkins.” 

Evidently they did, and still do. Looking around the property you see not just a pumpkin patch and a corn maze, but also a playground, a cafe, a parking lot, a petting zoo, a grain silo and a gift shop. 

“[When we started] there wasn’t a single building here,” Huffman said. “Everything you see, we built.” 

The farm is only in operation in the fall, the rest of the year Huffman simply thinks of it as her backyard. 

“We try to grow and introduce something new every year for the guests,” Huffman said. “This year our focus was on concessions, we added an espresso machine and we added a donut machine.”

According to Huffman, pumpkins and donuts are great, but they don’t fulfill the truest October tradition: getting the “b’jeebies” scared out of you. The haunted forest and corn maze is one of the farm’s older traditions, established in their third year of operation. Designing the scares is a family tradition and at the time of interview, the family was still working on the finishing touches.

“It’s all hands on deck, everybody loves to pitch in. That’s when you really see how sick and twisted your family members are,” Huffman said with a laugh. “I go back and there’s decapitated teddy bears … and a dagger’s been left in his neck hole.”

Grandma, the one who stabbed the teddy bear, managed to shock Huffman herself.

But it’s not just Grandma guests should be afraid of. 

According to Huffman Farms’ website, the neighboring property was once owned by the McMillan family, the eldest sons of which purportedly murdered their family and have a penchant for kidnapping and torture even today. But whether you believe the stories or not, the haunted forest is made to scare the pants off of you.

The forest is, for the most part, not intended for kids. When decorating, Huffman’s family usually assumes participants will be 12 years old and older. For guests who are still anxious, they recently introduced safewords that will stop any ghoul dead in its tracks.

“Every year, we end up having two or three dozen who can’t make it through and they come back out through the entrance,” Huffman said. “But I think for the most part, the majority just really enjoy themselves.”

Huffman laughs as she tells stories of peed pants and lost dentures found in the maze, but she also adds that the haunted forest is a very fun date idea for local couples. 

Huffman farms is open Saturdays and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. until Oct. 27. The haunted forest and corn maze is open Friday and Saturday nights through Oct. 26 from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m.