Elk Grove Giant Pumpkin Festival

Our first year here! It was pretty awesome. Tons of things to do, see, buy and eat. Will, for sure, be back next year

Fun event, though I wish there would have been more «pumpkin» entrees like the Half Moon Bay Pumpkin Festival. Vendors were great though. Parking is reasonable too, though it is very minimal.

Elk Grove Annual Pumpkin Festival, why am I just now hearing about this!?!
My sister lives out in Elk Grove and she has been attending this for years and told me I should check it out, check we did and then some. They have so many local vendors handing out free goodies and information about their businesses. Then there are the food vendors, some of my favorites were Johnsonville and Gunther’s Ice Cream. There are tons of activities for kids to enjoy from carnival like rides, mini zip-​lining, face painting, games, and animals to gawk at.
We participated in 2014 Scarecrow Competition, we threw together a Little Riding Hood themed display and entered in the Adult category. Participation is $ 10 and that also gives you free parking sticker which is a bonus as parking is usually $ 5. The competition was fierce, as first time entries we were blown away by the other displays and of course we did not win. They have 1^st-​3^rd place prizes voted on by the judges and another prize for People’s Choice where guests get to vote for their favorite Scarecrow display. We had so much fun at this festival and even witnessed a 1800lb Pumpkin which was like a scene out of Ripley’s Believe It or Not!
If you are in Elk Grove in October you really need to check out their Annual Pumpkin Festival!?!

This was my third year in a row attending the pumpkin festival. They really don’t have as much pumpkin related stuff as I’d like. Hence the 4 star rating. If anything, its a lot of vendors and businesses having nothing to do with pumpkins. Can’t beat the price-​free admission, parking is $ 5. Lots of fun things for kids and adults alike. One thing I look forward to every year is the scarecrow garden.

This festival has something for everyone! I love it! The organization and planning that goes into this event is unbelievable. Free for all, $ 5. Tons of free or inexpensive things to do, like viewing and voting for your favorite scarecrow and watching the pumpkins be weighed. There are also vendors selling items, food and giving out information (i.e. Kaiser has a booth). It really helps me get into the Autumn spirit!

Pumpkins, games, rides, food, entertainment and quality family time!
Our family loves this annual pumpkin festival. The park is clean, well decorated and well organized. It’s very family friendly, which I love. The parking is $ 5, or you can park on a side street and walk into the park. There is Free admission in the festival. You can purchase tickets for the games and rides. Most of the games are $ 1, and it helps support local organizations. The food is cash only and is pretty good, this year we tried a grilled teriyaki chicken bowl ($ 6) and the roasted corn on the cob with pumpkin butter ($ 4) which was crazy good! The pumpkin patch has a good assortment of pumpkins ranging from $ 1-​$ 7, and the proceeds go to the Elk Grove Food Bank. Overall, a wonderful festival to spend time with the family. We’ll definitely be back next year!

I missed the last two years of this annual festival, so I was happy that I was finally getting the chance to go. When I got there, I was like ok… where are all the fun things at?!? They had vendor booths lined up around the ponds as far as the eyes could see.
Each vendor had little cheesey games and even cheasier prizes, ie: spin the wheel and win a piece of 5 cent candy. The games for actual kids were okay, but not that interesting.
The food was nothing to rave about, my friends actually didn’t even finish their mexican food, it was just that bad. The ice cream sundays were the highlights of our culinary experience there with Gunther Ice cream.
They had two stages of entertainment. One had a live band that seemed to be poppin’. The other stage had about one act every two hours, but they did play music in between.
This festival was completely not what I thought it would be. It appeared to cater more to the local vendors trying to self promote their services than to actually provide a place for kids to have fun. I’m checking this one off the bucket list…
On the flip side, my other friends, that I bumped into later on, say they take their kids every year and love it. Their kids are pretty young though.

Good family fun very kid oriented just wish they served beer.