Santa Clarita residents can gather at the eighth annual Gilchrist Farm Harvest Festival and Pumpkin Patch from Tuesday-Sunday, Sept. 28 to Oct. 31. From 9 a.m. to 5 p.m, attendees have the opportunity to participate in fall-themed activities, eat seasonal snacks and view live music performances.
Monica Gilchrist, owner and resident of the farm, recounts the history of the annual fall festival: “We launched this as a business in 2018, which was the first year that we ever hosted a harvest festival. The event has stayed essentially the same, but of course we’ve grown very organically.”
Gilchrist has a strong role in managing the business, maintaining the farm and ensuring staff have all the necessary resources and supplies. She revealed, “During this time of year, I’m never under a 12-hour day. Y’know that’s also farm life, right… every night I feed the animals myself because I want to make sure that I see each animal [and] make sure that everything is going well… So I have a lot of help, incredible people and I’m also very busy.”
Activities available for attendees include wagon rides, a straw maze, various horse/pony rides and archery for all ages. Currently, the festival offers hamburgers, hotdogs and Mexican food, but will soon also feature Thai food and pizza. Additionally, Gilchrist Farms invites bands like The Orchard Bluegrass to come and perform live for attendees.
One of the unique experiences at this farm is the farm animals themselves. While walking around, visitors spot horses, pigs, chickens and even goats.
Wesley and Malcolm Skoch, two youth attendees, visited the slide, maze and archery. When asked about the farm animals, their favorite was the “Pigs…Well, when you stick your foot in front of the fence in front of their noses, they sniff it and kind of nibble it and it tickles.”
Employees have many responsibilities during the festival including cleaning up the petting zoo, managing the tickets and taking pictures for the attendees. Employee Sabrina Schier runs the arts and crafts table where attendees make horseshoe dreamcatchers, pioneer dolls and decorative spiderwebs.
Schier described her experience: “I have known Monica for a few years but I started working [here] a month and a half ago. It has been amazing. I don’t think I can do a job where you have to be a robot, and this is a job where you can do something different every single day and interact with people.”
Cats, the Harvest Festival lasts until Oct. 31, so be sure to check out the live entertainment, seasonal treats and family-friendly activities before it is over!
