Next in a series: North Texas cities, towns, and neighborhoods celebrate fall with all the gusto of people who have suffered through a Texas summer, and we are here to let you know about the best area fall festivals, Oktoberfests, pumpkin patches, and Halloween fun over the next several weeks. Today, we’re covering a family tradition — Hall’s Pumpkin Farm and Corn Maze in Grapevine. If you know of a great fall activity that needs to be showcased, let us know! Here’s the series so far.
Neighborhood/Area: Grapevine
Where: Hall’s Pumpkin Farm and Corn Maze, 3420 Hall Johnson Road, Grapevine. The working farm exists amid Grapevine and Colleyville neighborhoods sitting on land that was once included in this family’s farm.
What makes it special: The corn maze! The corn gets planted in the summer, so Northeast Tarrant County neighbors get to watch it grow as high as the proverbial elephant’s eye as they wait for fall to arrive. Here in hotter-than-blue-blazes Texas, we can pretend we’re in the midst of a fall pictured in the schoolbooks of our childhood.
“It’s a lot of fun,” said Grapevine city councilwoman Duff O’Dell. “I’ve taken my daughters there since they were little and now I’m taking my grandchildren. It’s just the atmosphere is fun. October is the only time we ever get to feel like it’s fall. I feel like I’m back in the mid-western or the east where fall is really fun.”
What: The farm, purchased by Jess Hall in 1929 and still owned by the Hall family, is still a family operation now overseen by matriarch Jessie Lou Hall Nelson with the help of four generations. The fall is when the farm is open to the public for an amazing corn maze, twisting and turning over two acres of nine-foot corn stalks. Tractor-pulled hayrides stop to feed cows and donkeys during daylight hours, and pumpkins, available for photos and purchase, are part of the festive fun, too.
“This is the only working family farm left in Grapevine,” said Darrell Huffman, who married into the family operation. “We have an experience kids don’t get to see anymore because this way of life pretty much has vanished. It’s a unique experience for kids nowadays.”
When: For the most part, the farm is open from 3 to 8 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays; 3 to 9 p.m. Fridays; 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturdays; and 1 to 8 p.m. Sundays. For more detailed hours, check the farm’s website.
Tickets: Admission is cash only at the farm
