BRUNSWICK, Ohio — Mapleside Farms' Pumpkin Village is back, with some major COVID-19 precautions in place.
The annual multi-weekend fall festival at the bucolic apple farm will open September 19 and 20 with a Princess and Pirates Weekend. It will be followed the next weekend by the pinnacle of the season, the 47th annual Johnny Appleseed Festival, September 26 and 27. Other weekend themes include Hometown Heroes (October 3 and 4), the Great Pumpkin (October 10 and 11), Superheroes (October 16 - 18), Wild West (October 24 and 25) and Spooky Days (October 31 and November 1).
An 11-point COVID-19 safety plan will be implemented, beginning with reduced capacity limits and timed entries limited to two hour sessions. Other updates included contactless payment, building capacity limits, UV-C sanitizing wands for cleaning and masks required when social distancing is not possible (Ohio’s mask mandate says Ohioans over 10 must wear masks outside when “unable to maintain six-foot social distance from people who are not household members”).
For a full list of safety guidelines see https://mapleside.com/fall.
Tickets go on sale Tuesday, Sept. 1 at https://mapleside.com/fall. It is strongly suggested to buy in advance. If a date is sold out, no walk-up tickets will be available.
The 2020 Pumpkin Village will include a Unity themed corn maze, tours of the orchard in Cow and Pig Trains, hayrides and the 311-food hillside slide. The giant jump pillows will return, too.
“With everything going on right now, we really wanted to tap into that optimism that things are going to get better.” said Mapleside owner Kelly Clement in a statement. “For real change to happen, we all need to adopt these words we’ve cut into the corn maze into our heart and character. We wanted to do our part to spread a message of love and unity.”
New to Mapleside this fall is The Magic of Halloween. The drive up, multi-sensory experience features live and digital characters interacting with the audience, through state-of-the-art projection, soundscapes and pixel lighting.
Enjoy this 20 minute experience from the comfort of your car!
The Magic of Halloween starts September 24. More information will be made available soon.
Here are Mapleside's Pumpkin Village hours: Friday 4:00 p.m.-9:00 p.m. / Saturday 10:00 a.m.-9:00 p.m. / Sunday 10:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m.