Here Are The Best Pumpkin Patches Near St. Louis

ST. LOUIS, MO — It’s that magical time of year again when kids unglue themselves from their tablets and smartphones for just a couple precious hours to join their parents in a jaunt to the local pumpkin patch. Few things excite our youth more than picking out gargantuan gourds, and for parents, it’s the perfect excuse to throw on that new fall sweater, round up the squad and have a stranger snap the perfect Christmas card photo for grandma and grandpa.

Haunted houses get all the attention, but pumpkin patches are the soul of the season. And if you’re looking for the cream of the crop, consider heading over to Uncle Buck's Pumpkin Patch in Dixon, Missouri (about 2 hours south west of St. Louis), ranked the 25th best pumpkin patch in America by the folks at the women's magazine Good Housekeeping. The patch is open every Saturday and Sunday in October from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

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Here’s what the magazine had to say about the pumpkin peddlers:

Uncle Buck is going to be your new favorite relative after you stop by this pumpkin patch. While it has the classic horse ride and petting zoo, you and your kids can almost host your own amateur U.S. Open at the 9-hole mini golf course. Attendees 2 and up will pay $6 at the door, and weekdays are reserved for appointment-only school trips.

If that doesn’t suit your fancy — or, more likely, the drive is simply too far — you can also try one of the following places. Whether you’re looking for haunted hayrides and spooky corn mazes, or simply family-friendly bounce houses, petting zoos and pony rides, one of these should do the trick.

• Brookdale Farms
  • 8004 Twin Rivers Rd, Eureka, MO 63025
• Bunker Farms at Golfport
  • 1 Golfport Drive, St Louis, MO 63146
• Rombach Farm
  • 18639 Olive Street Rd, Chesterfield, MO 63005
• Stuckmeyer Farms
  • Hwy 141, Fenton, MO 63026
• Sullivan Farms
  • 16704 New Halls Ferry, Florissant, MO 63034
• Summit Produce
  • 150 East Argonne Drive Kirkwood, Mo 63122
• Thies Farm and Greenhouses
  • 4215 North Hanley Road, St. Louis, MO 63108
• Adventure Valley
  • 5320 State Highway Mm, House Springs, MO 63051
• Meert Tree Farm
  • 14560 Dry Fork Road, Festus, MO 63028
    
• St. John's Catholic Church
  • 4614 Blue Springs Rd, Imperial, MO 63052
    
• Aholt Farms Seasons of Fun
  • 6133 Augusta Bottom Rd, Augusta, MO 63332
• Centennial Farms
  • 199 Jackson Street, Augusta, MO 63332
• Dickherber Farms
  • 7063 Highway N, O Fallon, MO 63368
• Hermans Farm Orchard
  • 3663 N. Highway 94, St. Charles, MO 63301
• Lakeview Farm
  • 4040 Towers Rd, Saint Charles, MO 63304
• Valley Farms
  • 1125 Dietrich Rd, Foristell, MO 63348

If you’re hoping to find locally grown pumpkins, consider this — while technically grown throughout the country, there’s a 50-50 chance your pumpkin was grown in one of just six states, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. But there’s a good chance that state was right next door — Illinois, which harvests up to five times as many pumpkin acres as any other top state at more than 600 million pounds, is the nation’s largest producer.

Your turn: Send your best and — more importantly — worst pumpkin carvings to ryne.danielson@patch.com. We'll feature our favorites closer to Halloween. Here’s one of the bad ones to give you an idea:

When picking your perfect pumpkin, here are a few tips to keep in mind, according to the folks at Kitchn.

1. Know the difference between pumpkins best used for pies and those best for carving. Workers will sometimes label their pumpkins to help you identify which is better for eating and which is better for carving. But if they don’t, remember smaller, thicker and rounder pumpkins are generally better for eating. They have more guts on the inside and are more difficult to saw.
2. Tap on your pumpkin. By tapping on your prospective pumpkins, you’ll be able to compare which feel sturdy and sound hollow. The sturdier, the better, and it should sound hollow.
3. Flip it upside down and apply pressure. It might sound odd, but trust us, this is key. Turn your pumpkin upside down and press on it with both thumbs. If it’s not sturdy, chances are it’ll rot.
4. Always carry it from the bottom. Do not carry your pumpkin by its stem, that’s the easiest way to test whether your pumpkin can defy gravity. So far, gravity remains undefeated.
5. Wait to carve your pumpkin. Ask anyone what happens if you carve too early and you’ll hear one of two answers, neither of them good. Either the pumpkin rots before Halloween or it simply becomes dinner for a family of hungry animals.

Patch national staffer Dan Hampton contributed to this report.

Photo by Rick Uldricks/Patch