The Patch hosts wide variety of autumn adventures, treats

As autumn leaves begin to fall and the air turns crisp, The Patch has officially opened its gates for the season in Cedar Falls. The patch has pumpkins arranged in neat rows for families to stroll through and choose their favorites in a full-fledged attraction offering a variety of activities to enjoy. Located at 305 Roosevelt Street in Cedar Falls, this is an essential fall activity that everyone needs to add to their autumn bucket list. 

The Patch is open from 1 to 6 p.m. on weekdays, and Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The business started its sixth season of operation on Sept. 21, and the season will run through Nov. 2. 

Over the weekend I visited The Patch with my family. The Patch has two separate areas; one specifically for retail where you can buy pumpkins, mums, sweets, cider, and books, and an admission area where customers can walk around, play games and pose for adorable photo ops. The indoor shop area also offers candles, T-shirts, fall decorations, tote bags, jewelry, socks, soap, hot and cold drinks and many more goodies.

The admission area offers a $5 admission for kids and adults to explore various fall games and activities such as pumpkin bowling, witch hat ring toss, pedal kart racing, hay bail slides,volleyball, and playing in the corn pit. The business accepts both cash and debit/credit cards. 

The Patch is owned by Darron and Debbie Olson and their family. During my visit, I had the opportunity to speak with Debbie, who shared the inspiration behind their pumpkin patch. “Halloween is my favorite time of year,” she said. “I used to host a haunted house in my garage for the neighborhood kids, and the pumpkin patch just kind of evolved from that.”

She said that visitors to The Patch can expect “an open-air, fun environment for families, with plenty of games and photo opportunities, as well as a wide variety of pumpkins and retail shopping with a few surprises, too.”

The Patch offers over 20 different varieties of pumpkins for purchase. Debbie said, “We plant everything from decorative to carving pumpkins, as well as gourds. However, not everything thrives; the deer, raccoons and squirrels really enjoy snacking on them. For instance, this year our crop was flooded, so we had to rely on other farmers to grow for us. We’re looking to expand our offerings and possibly introduce a ‘grow your own’ area to teach kids about plants and farming.”

Darron and Debbie’s daughter Abby is also an entrepreneur; she and her husband own The Nook downtown, which features a pop-up presence at The Patch. Additionally, the Cedar Falls Public Library has set up their own booth, offering visitors even more to explore during their visit. Abby also helps run and coordinate activities for The Patch and graduated from UNI in the spring of 2022 and majored in marketing. 

“My favorite part is bringing something to the community. I love watching people enjoy their time here. It is really fun to see,” Abby said. She also mentioned that her favorite pumpkin at The Patch is the “fairy tale” pumpkin, which is technically known as a black futsu.

Debbie said that her favorite aspect of owning The Patch is building the games and attractions, as it allows her to unleash her creativity. “All the games on the lawn are designed by me, incorporating ideas from other family members. We strive to create new games and mix things up a bit to keep it fresh. This year, we added six new activities.”

To help contribute to the community The patch sells goods from other small businesses and hosts pop-ups for them some weekends for promotion. Debbie said, “We provide opportunities for local people to build and grow their own businesses. A lot of the things we offer for sale are things we have made ourselves or things other local people have made. We also allow small businesses to set up booths to promote their own products. We offer apple cider donuts, ice cream and honey all handmade from small local businesses.”

The Olson’s express their gratitude to their daughter for coordinating the pop-ups. “We’re very fortunate that my daughter is good with the social media marketing aspect to help spread awareness, and we have a booth at the Cedar Falls Farmers Market and advertise there as well.” She said The Patch also has an event coordinator who is great at keeping everyone on track with any birthday parties or school field trips they have coming up as well.

While I was at The Patch, I noticed a lively crowd, including families out with their kids and couples on dates. I asked a few visitors about their favorite part of the experience. A couple named Kate and Andrew, who brought their dog Nola, shared that this was their second visit. “Our favorite part is that this place is cute and pet-friendly, which I really appreciate, and we love the staff,” they said.

The Patch is indeed pet-friendly. There are signs posted as you walk in saying that they allow pets. Debbie said, “In the past, we’ve had the Cedar Bend Humane Society out several times with dogs to help spread awareness and allow people to meet and interact in an open and comfortable environment, resulting in several dogs being re-homed.”

Overall, visiting a pumpkin patch was one of my top bucket list activities for the season, and I’m glad I chose The Patch. My twin brothers loved the variety of activities, while I enjoyed the photo opportunities, getting to dress up and the perfect weather. I definitely need to get those popular apple cider donuts again! The owners recommended visiting on Oct. 27 before the season ends because Gucci the cow will make an appearance at a Chick-fil-A pop-up for kids to interact with. If you can’t make it then, be sure to follow The Patch’s Instagram account @thepatch.cf  to stay updated on pop-ups and other upcoming events, as Gucci will be making several appearances later this month.