THUNDER BAY – On Saturday, Belluz Farm kicked off the Fall Wonderland Weekends that will be in effect until the last weekend of October.
Jodi Belluz, partner at Belluz Farm, said there will be a lot of fall farm fun to enjoy.
“Today is really special. We always kick off the season with a visit from the Thunder Bay District Giant Pumpkin Growers with their annual weigh off and then they do a pumpkin drop.
“This year we also have the witches walk joining us too. It's a pretty exciting day on the farm,” she said.
Belluz said there were some special attractions on Saturday.
“With the witches’ walk are a whole bunch of local vendors doing crafts and art. We’ve got a tattoo artist and we have a face painter and we have a spiritualist and we have a fortune teller.
“Lots of exciting things going on. Every weekend we also, of course, have our farm stand open with lots of local vegetables that people can buy.”
There are activities that take places every weekend as well, Belluz said.
“Our usual fall activities are our two-acre amazing corn maze. There's a petting zoo, there's a wagon ride, there's straw hens, just a whole bunch of things for people to do every weekend here.”
This time of year is really exciting, Belluz said.
“It's like kicking off the start of the season and also the entire end of a season for us.
“This is the closing show, the closing act of the harvest season for us. Six months really of harvesting and planting and growing.
“Heading into pumpkin season always feels really celebratory,” she said.
A favourite part of this day for some people would have to be the huge pumpkins.
“The Thunder Bay District Giant Pumpkin Growers have a membership of course and the members then often grow these amazing giant pumpkins and this is their time to shine.
“They bring them all here to the farm. We have a weigh off competition to see who grew the most giant pumpkin. Last year, I believe the biggest pumpkin was over 1,000 pounds.
Belluz said it’s exciting to see the ‘big beasts’ at the farm.
“The second and third place pumpkins get dropped from a crane to kind of finish off the afternoon.”
It’s always a rewarding experience, Belluz said.
“So exciting to have people out here at the farm and to have that connection between what we can grow here in Slate River Valley, in our agricultural community, and the people of Thunder Bay and bringing that all together,” she said.
Fall Wonderland weekends run every weekend until the end of October, including Thanksgiving Monday. Activity passes can be purchased online as well as detailed description of everything that goes on every weekend.
