As October comes around there’s something that comes to mind on a daily basis – oh, how great it would be to be a kid once again. Watching kids excited about their costumes, fighting over candy, running around and having the time of their lives brings memories of easier and simpler times.
At this time of year instead of mapping out the best trick-or-treating route we’re trying to figure out how to pass Statistics and survive midterms. And counting down the days until our next break.
If you’re experiencing some serious burn out like me, take a deep breath. With this time of year comes some of the best experiences- bonfires, homecoming just around the corner, pumpkin patches and finally some cooler weather.
For this week’s article, I’m going to let you know about a pumpkin patch that has a special place in my heart.
Moon Farm isn’t a new place, but rather an old-new place. It’s been in the Grand Valley for 45 years. To summarize, this couple – Wallace and Ella Moon – from Utah moved here back in the 1950’s. When they got here they bought a farm.
Wallace was a carpenter and Ella was a creative housewife, according to the history page published on Moon Farm’s website. They adopted several children; one of which, David, currently operates the farm. Moon Farm really began when Wallace and Mike, one of their adopted children, built a tree house.
That was really the spark that started Moon Farm. After building the treehouse, a playhouse was built for DiAnn, another adopted child. David invited his class over for a field trip, which resulted in more and more school kids coming out for field trips.
Ella wanted to create a new building every year for children to enjoy. After Wallace retired in 1975, the Moons started a day camp on their farm. Every summer more and more kids would help build Moon Farm, up until 2007.
Regardless of the decades passing by, Moon Farm still stands in operation today. For many locals it’s a cherished place of childhood memories.
I should clarify, Moon Farm isn’t a farm in the traditional sense. Sure there are goats, bunnies, alpacas even and a huge pumpkin patch, but what makes Moon Farm unique are the buildings the Moons built.
These buildings are really just very small houses- about the size of a shed, and each of them are designed to represent a different setting. One is a castle, another an Egyptian Pyramid, an old schoolhouse, a church, a western saloon, a Viking ship and dozens of others.
There is a building to represent each part of the world including the Middle East, Asia, Europe, and more. Each of them contains knick-knacks and relics relating to that house. For example, the teddy bear house contains hundreds of stuffed animals, the saloon has an old bar and an antique piano, the church has miniature pews and a piano, and so on.
My personal favorite is Granny’s House. It is one of the larger buildings on the farm. It is decorated like a house from the late 1800s/early 1900s. It contains a bed, a decorated kitchen complete with a stove, a living room with chairs and a piano. What makes this particular house unique is that the wallpaper is comprised of thank-you letters from the children that were a part of Moon Farm’s Day Camp and activities. There are probably a hundred letters that cover the walls.
And now Moon Farm has a dollhouse containing hundreds of thousands of dolls- including the biggest collection of Barbie Dolls I have ever seen. Did you know they have Marilyn Monroe and I Love Lucy Barbies? Because they do. And pretty much every other Barbie you can think of.
Right now, Moon Farm is featuring a Halloween-themed park which includes a Creepy Clown House, a Haunted Castle and a little kids corn maze. Many of the houses are decorated for the season and spooky scares can be found all over the place.
Personally, if I had to pick one thing for my childhood, it would be Moon Farm. I loved playing pretend as though I was a grown up and Moon Farm was the ultimate place to make pretend into reality.
It wasn’t just about being able to fully fit into the ultra-realistic settings, but it was also because when you got tired of the building you were in, you could walk next door and be immersed in a new story.
I was a princess rescued by a knight in the castle, an English teacher at an elementary school, a Viking plundering the seas, an Indian performing ritual songs and dances. And at the end of the day, it would be time to say goodbye to the ponies, pigs, and peacocks, and ride the bus home.
Now returning to Moon Farm, a little less than 15 years later, it feels exactly the same. The adult part of me stopped me from running house-to-house, but walking through the farm brought back waves of nostalgia. It’s just as much fun now as it was when I was five. And now as an adult, I can appreciate all of the love and care the Moons had for children in the valley.
It truly is a landmark for all of us from the Grand Valley. Not just because it’s a great place to get pumpkins for the season, but because it’s where many of us grew up. And now it’s a place where we can grow young again.
Casey Smith | The CriterionThey are open daily through October from 10 am to 7 pm and admission is $7. And right now they have tons of different kinds of pumpkins including porcelain doll pumpkins which are pink for breast cancer awareness, small white snowball pumpkins and warty goblin themed pumpkins.
