This promises a tight schedule for guests joining industry pros and fellow wine and food aficionados for some memorable tastings of Sonoma’s top wines and to share in a savory sampling of culinary creations provided by winners of the Professional Food Competition. Celebrants will be among the first to learn which three wineries will take home top honors for the Sweepstakes Wines of 2025. Dating from the first sweepstakes winner, Chateau St. Jean in 1975 until today, more than 90 wineries have been recognized with the coveted sweepstakes awards.
www.harvestfair.org, 707-545-4203
The Great Pumpkin Farm Fall Festival, Clarence, New York
Pumpkins are clearly one of the most widely recognizable symbols of the fall harvest season — and you can get all of the pumpkin-related hoopla you can handle at what has to be the longest and most action-packed fall festival of any kind, anywhere in America. Staged in the Western New York farming community of Clarence, just east of Buffalo, this extended tribute to the largest member of the gourd, or cucurbit, family takes place over a seven-week period ranging this year from September 13 to October 31. Activities and events are focused on the weekends— some of them themed—such as Armed Forces Weekend and the most popular, the World Pumpkin Weigh Off Weekend (winning pumpkins usually top 1,000 pounds). Schedule details for 2025 were not available at press time, but, in general, weekend admission includes family-friendly activities such as a magic show, petting zoo, train rides, face painting, a corn maze, tractor-drawn hayrides, carnival food booths, and a variety of contests. Weekdays feature only limited activities, but admission is free (except for Columbus Day, October 13).
The prize-winning pumpkin weighed 1,613.5 pounds at the Great Pumpkin Farm Fall Festival, credit Great Pumpkin Farm
maples, elms, willows, and sycamores—and it’s being the hometown of the country’s first Secretary of Agriculture, J. Sterling Morton, who established Arbor Day as our nation’s first environmental holiday in 1872. More than 75,000 people attend the festival each year. It offers such treats as apple pie, apple cider, apple doughnuts, candy apples, apple fritters, and apple salad. In between bites and sips you can watch parades, take in a pie-baking contest, the AppleJam Carnival, Quilt & Needlework Show, AppleJack Flea Market, Craft and Vendor Fair, the Downtown Cider Stroll, River City Classic Car Show, and even some bull riding performed by rodeo pros.
www.nebraskacity.com, 402-873-6654
Sonoma County Harvest Fair, Santa Rosa, California It goes without saying that grapes steal the spotlight at this popular Northern California wine country harvest festival, set this year for October 11. Previously a weekender, the event is now a one-night-only affair, staged from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. in the Tasting Pavilion at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds.
www.greatpumpkinfarm.com, 715-759-1929
AMERICAN FALL FESTIVALS
COAST TO COAST MAGAZINE FALL 2025 | 32
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