California's Popular Pumpkin Patch Offers A One-Of-A-Kind Attraction That Takes Fall Fun To A New Level

If somebody ever asks, "Hey, did you see Gourdzilla in the pumpkin patch?" you know precisely what they mean: Spina Farms Pumpkin Patch in the Bay Area. Oh, and King Kong, some animatronic dinosaurs, a colorful kiddie train, a pumpkin pyramid, a corn maze that changes from year to year, and much more. We're not sure what some of it has to do with autumn, but the kids will love it — as the proprietors of Spina Farms doubtlessly know. That's what has garnered Spina Farms so much attention amid the gamut of typical autumnal hay rides, apple picking, jumping in big piles of leaves, and renewed pumpkin spice addictions. 

Located about an hour from San Francisco and 20 minutes from San Jose, Spina Farms sits in a wide, flat expanse of grassy farmland in Morgan Hill, California. And while the farm has been in the pumpkin patch business since the 1940s, its current location at Laguna Avenue and Santa Teresa Boulevard was just an empty field until 2022. Spina Farms relocated and revamped, and is now in the process of becoming the Bay Area's largest and most notable pumpkin patch, not to mention an excellent family-friendly destination for the weekend.

Far from being a mere assemblage of orange gourds sitting in a field, Spina Farms is more like a cozy autumn festival and theme park. Aside from the attractions we mentioned, there are festive games, the Pumpkin Cup Ride (similar to the Mad Tea Party ride at Disney), beautifully arranged rows of flowers, a giant pumpkin begging you to take your picture with it, a produce stand, and an actual pumpkin patch. But amid all this, it's the Pumpkin Blasters that stand out as one of a kind: cannons that shoot actual pumpkins at targets.

There are so many pumpkins at Spina Farms that the business can afford to use some of them as ammunition. They might be subpar pumpkins unsuited for the farm's pumpkin patch or pyramid — we're not entirely sure. Regardless, if you fork over $8, you can stroll up to a Gatling gun-shaped cannon, have it loaded with gourds, and pew-pew away at a variety of targets, one of which is also in the shape of a pumpkin. And for the possibility of witnessing pumpkin-on-pumpkin violence, it might be worth the money to give it a shot — literally. Visitors get three shots, which comes out to $2.67 per pumpkin blast, which is less than a pumpkin spice latte.

Pumpkin Blasters, as this unique foray into autumn target practice is called, is one of Spina Farms' three attractions that are not included in its Park Pass. The pass is $35 and covers the Spina Farms Express Train, the Cow Train (the more kid-friendly of the two trains), the Hay Ride, the Corn Maze, and the Dinosaur Walk (a compact, dinosaur-themed area). Each of these attractions costs $8 individually, which means the Park Pass saves you $5. But the Pumpkin Blasters, Pumpkin Cups ride, and Dino Ride are also $8 each. 

In addition to those fees, parking is $25 on Fridays and weekends (cash only). All of which is to say that Spina Farms can get seriously expensive (seriously quickly), especially with a large family. But, while its corn maze isn't as jaw-dropping as the Great Vermont Maze in Danville, Vermont, and it doesn't boast as many pumpkins as the Circleville Pumpkin Show in Pickaway County, Ohio, where else can you shoot pumpkins from a cannon?