Three More Weekends to Enjoy the Annual Turner Family Farms Fall Festival
–The following was first published at Floyd Times on October 7 and was slightly adapted from that version – The Turner Family Farm has hosted three Fall Festival weekends with three more weekends to go. The farm, located the street from the EcoVillage at 699 Franklin Pike across has been in the Turner family since the 1950s.
The Fall Festival, headed up by third generation Turner brothers Jason and Wes, features a 2-acre corn maze with a Floyd Buffalo design, a pumpkin patch, hayrides and more.
“We took a hayride. We did the corn maze and that gave us good exercise,” said Katie Burke who was enjoying lunch Sunday at a picnic table with her family.
Her sister, niece and nephew were visiting from North Carolina, and it was their first time at the Turner Farm. Burke, her husband Nile Bachmann and their daughter River Burke-Bachmann have been returning for the farm festival for the past three years.
Five-year-old River was excited about playing in the corn pit (like a sand box but with corn) and picking out a pumpkin for her schoolteacher.
There are many festival features and activities geared towards children, including the corn pit and a farm-themed playground. A tricycle racetrack and a play cow display to practice milking are new this year.
There is a Farm Store stocked with pumpkin nicknacks, t-shirts, snacks and drinks. Mountain views, photo-op installations, corn maze games and apple cider are all part of the experience.
When they’re not hosting the Fall Festival at the farm, the Turner brothers are beef cattle farming. Jason Turner has a landscaping business, Yard-Boys and Wes Turner is the owner and chef of the popular food truck, Vittles Wagon, which offers smash burgers with all the fixings, macaroni and cheese, wraps and more.
The corn maze was closed on October 2 and October 11 due to rainy weather and muddy conditions. “We needed the rain,” Wes Turner said. As wet conditions subsided, festival goers returned and hopes for good weather for the rest of October mounted.
With three Fall Festival weekends left, the festival expands to three days – October 16-18 from 10 to 9pm, October 23 -25 from 10 am to 9 pm, Halloween weekend October 30 – November 1 from 10 am to 9 pm, and will include a nighttime flashlight corn maze, more food trucks and live music. Tickets are $8 a day with children under three admitted free. They can be purchased at www.turnerfamilyfarmsva.com, on the Turner Family Farms Facebook page or onsite. Colleen Redman
