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Today's Family Magazine

Celebrate fall at Lake Metroparks Farmpark

Photo credit: Blair Bros Photography

Apple Butter and Cider Weekend
Lake Metroparks Farmpark continues the harvest season with a weekend all about apples! Discover how apple butter and cider are made during Apple Butter & Cider Weekend on October 1 & 2.  Take an apple, toss it into the grinder and watch apple cider trickle out of the press. 

“Having a mixture of apples makes the best cider with a good mixture of both sweet and tart,” explains Valerie Reinhardt, horticulture manager at Lake Metroparks Farmpark. 

Then, grab hold of the paddle and stir the kettle boiling over an open flame as you make apple butter.  Sample the sweet goodness of a variety of apples, apple cider and Farmpark's own apple butter.  Walk in the footsteps of the harvest on the “Johnny Appleseed Trail.”

Corn & Pumpkin Weekends
Husk, shell and grind corn and paint pumpkins during Corn & Pumpkin Weekends on October 8 & 9 and 15 & 16.  This popular weekend offers a range of family-friendly activities centered around the fall crops — including pumpkin bowling. Wrap and tie corn husks to create your own old-fashioned corn husk doll.  An additional fee applies for the pumpkin painting activity. 

During each weekend, visitors can enjoy harvest-themed crafts and other harvest activities and demonstrations.  Kids will enjoy a ride on the barrel train.  Beautiful fall-themed settings are available for photo ops.  Food will be on site, and the famous Corny Apple Bar will have delicious corn- and apple-related items for purchase.  On Sundays, sample freshly made soups, made primarily from ingredients grown on-site. 

Visitors are invited to test their directional skills as they follow winding paths that lead to intersections where they must decide which way to turn next in the three-acre corn maze.

The fall harvest-themed weekends run 9 am to 5 pm and are included in Farmpark admission ($6–8). Farmpark members, children under 2 and active military and their families receive free admission. For more information and event schedules visit http://goto.lakemetroparks.com/farmpark-events.

Farmpark is located at 8800 Euclid Chardon Road in Kirtland.  For park information and directions visit goto.lakemetroparks.com/farmpark.

Farmpark’s mission is to provide a connection to our agricultural roots while helping people understand where our food and clothing come from. In addition to the fall harvest activities, visitors can experience milking hands-on with dairy cows, watch equine demonstrations, watch a border collie herd the sheep, ride on a horse- or tractor-drawn wagon, meet other farm animals and more.