FALL FAMILY FUN
Visitors enjoy annual Liberty Ridge Farm Fall Festival
SCHAGHTICOKE, N.Y. » Liberty Ridge Farm, now in its 19th season, is a perfect, picturesque place for the whole family to enjoy the fall season.
The farm is currently in the middle of its Fall Festival, where families can spend the day playing, riding, and running around. There are animals to meet and feed, giant jumping pillows to play on, an 11acre corn maze to navigate, and pumpkin cannons for long- distance target practice, among many other things.
Cynthia Gifford, who coowns the farm with her husband Robert, says Liberty Ridge Farm is a place to get away from “the rat race.”
“The idea is, you park your car, walk onto the farm, and you’re out in the country,” she said.
Far from the busy neighborhoods of Schaghticoke, the farm sits on 100 acres of natural beauty. It’s a quiet place — if you discount the sounds of children of all ages having a blast in the activity area.
The farm is an ideal location for school field trips. There’s enough to do to keep an entire busload of children busy for a full day.
“We try to put in something new every year,” Gifford said. “Or to do something to improve the over
There are animals to meet and feed, giant jumping pillows to play on, an 11-acre corn maze to navigate, and pumpkin cannons for long-distance target practice, amongmany other things.
all experience. New this year is our Game Town. We have giant chess and checkers, a gaga ball pit, and a poly pong table.”
Liberty Ridge has a number of attractions that are unique to the farm, or have their own special twist to them. A popular one is the underground slide. A short walk from that, visitors can see the farm’s rabbits. These rabbits don’t live in an ordinary hutch, though — they’re the residents of Rabbit Town, an elaborate Wild West-themed area.
While at the farm, you can also try your hand at Barnyard Baseball, Basketball, and Football, take a walk in a giant hamster wheel, dive into the Corn Crib, pick a pumpkin out of the pumpkin patch, listen to the music on the farm’s independent radio station, or grab a bite for lunch at the Smokehouse Grill.
The Grill features meats smoked in- house. While they don’t raise the meat themselves, Gifford says that one day she would like the farm to get to that point.
“There’s a ton of activities for the kids to do,” said Megan Bochette, from Malta.
“We can just hang out here and let the kids wander. The favorite thing right now is the animals,” added Casey Stewart, from Ballston Spa. “It’s grown so much since last year.”
Perfect hang out spots on the farm include many sturdy benches and picnic tables placed throughout the property. Or, you can hop on the trolley for a ride up to the farm store. Wherever on the farm you are, you don’t have to walk far to find a spot to sit.
Four-year- old friends Riley Chaves, from Waterford, and Henry Galiper, from Clifton Park, did just that with their moms after trying their hands at the pumpkin cannons. The boys sat down for lunch at a nearby table and talked excitedly about shooting miniature pumpkins out of the air cannon at long-range targets.
“It went way out into the field,” Riley said about his pumpkin.
“That was cool. It went so far,” added Henry.
The boys and their mothers also enjoyed exploring the corn maze, bouncing on the giant pillows, and watching pig races.
During this season’s Fall Festival, which runs every day the farm is open, visitors can also come on Saturday nights for the Nightmares haunted farm experience. Nightmares runs from 7-10pm and features 6 different scary attractions.
After the season ends, the next special event at the farm for families to look forward to is the second annual lunch with Santa. But in the meantime, Gifford hopes that everyone will have a chance to come spend some time at Liberty Ridge Farm.
“The leaves are changing, fall is in the air,” she commented. “It’s a great time of year.”