For 15 years, a fall afternoon in Tillamook could mean the Kilchis River Pumpkin Patch & Corn Maze. That stopped after the 2025 season. The family at Hydrangea Ranch retired the patch so they could put the land into a ten-year garden project. The closest pumpkin patches are now Blackberry Bog Farm in Astoria and Jim Dandy Farm in Banks, both outside the county.
The harvest season didn't go away, though. It moved north and got smaller, and it now runs on what the community brings. The center of it is a hall built as a schoolhouse in Mohler, outside Nehalem, which has been hosting farm families since the Depression. For the bigger events this year, you don't buy a ticket to someone else's farm. You bring your own apples.
What the Kilchis Patch Is Becoming
The owners explain the decision in their own words on the Hydrangea Ranch pumpkin patch page, which they now title "A New Chapter Begins: 2026–2036."
"For 15 years, the Kilchis River Pumpkin Patch has been a fall tradition for families across Tillamook. We have loved being part of your memories. However, we have made the decision to retire the Pumpkin Patch to dedicate our land to a new, 10-year vision."
That vision is called The Gardens. The plan is to turn the farm into a floral destination with a Grand Topiary Maze, a rose garden and a Japanese garden. So the Kilchis Valley still has a maze in its future, but it will be made of shrubs, not corn, and it's planned over a decade. We found no opening date for any part of The Gardens. For fall 2026, that leaves the south end of Tillamook Bay without a pumpkin field.
The pumpkin patch was a single destination with one owner, and one family decision ended it. What has filled the gap works differently.
The Apples Come From Your Neighbors' Trees
The 2026 White Clover Grange Heritage Apple Festival is Sunday, Oct. 11, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 36585 Hwy 53 in Nehalem. Entry is free, and the Grange accepts donations.
The festival works on contribution. The Grange describes the cider as pressed from community apples, and people are asked to bring their extra fruit to the press. The Tillamook County Pioneer's festival announcement puts it plainly: "bring your excess apples and we'll toss them into the hopper!" The Manzanita Connections newsletter, which covers Nehalem Bay, suggests bringing your own jars to fill with cider. If you have an old tree dropping fruit on the lawn this month, that's what the festival runs on.
Here's what else is on the grounds Sunday:
- Tasting fruit from heritage apple trees
- Heritage apple trees for sale, to plant on your own place
- Children's activities
- A quilt raffle
- Food from Gnarly's Tacos and Blessed Donuts
None of the Grange's 2026 materials list which heritage varieties will be on the tasting table. You'll find out when you get there.
There's a number from last year that shows the scale. A history of the Grange in the Tillamook County Pioneer reports that more than 200 people came to the 2025 Apple Fest, tasted local apples, and pressed and sampled 80 gallons of cider. That was also the last season Kilchis was open.
Why a Grange Hall Can Carry This
White Clover Grange was founded in 1896 in north Tillamook County. Its members first met in the Onion Peak School House on the west side of the North Fork of the Nehalem River. As that school moved, the Grange moved with it, eventually landing on what is now Highway 53. The Grange went dormant in 1926 and came back five years later. In 1932 it leased the empty Mohler schoolhouse for $1 a year. Within about a year, Mohler School District #28 sold it the building for $1. Portland architect A.E. Doyle designed the two-room schoolhouse.
According to the Pioneer, membership and activity picked up again around 2010. Members and grant funding paid to restore the building. Today the Grange runs four community events a year: Pie Day, a Spring Garden Event, the Heritage Apple Fest and the Holiday Bazaar. Its stated goals include supporting local agriculture and youth programs, and serving as a warming center during emergencies.
That history explains why the harvest can move here. A private farm attraction needs a business case every season. A grange with a $1 building, volunteers and a 130-year habit of gathering farm families mostly needs people to show up with fruit.
The Rest of the Harvest Is Small and Spread Out
Outside the Grange, fall produce on the north coast comes from a few small stands, not one big field. Each has its own hours, so check before you drive.
Moon River Farm runs a farmstand behind Wolfmoon Bakery at 35915 8th St. in Nehalem, with carrots, kale, beets and squash this month. Sources disagree on the hours. The Oct. 6 Manzanita Connections lists Wednesdays from 4 to 6 p.m. through October. The farm's Double Up Oregon listing says Wednesdays from 3 to 6 p.m. Get there by 4 and you're covered either way. In November and December the stand switches to Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The newsletter describes those as weekly, while the farm's listing says every other week.
Moss Creek Family Farm, based in Bay City, has an honor-system produce stand in front of Neahkahnie Smokehouse in Wheeler. Manzanita Connections reported in late August that the farm had first planned to stock it Thursday through Sunday. After a strong response when it opened, the farm switched to stocking it Tuesdays through Fridays through the end of October. You can pay with cash, Venmo or Square.
The Tillamook Farmers Market, Saturdays at Laurel Avenue and 2nd Street, closed its 2026 season on Sept. 26. That puts even more of the October harvest at the north end of the county.
The south county already had its day. Neskowin Valley School held its 45th Annual Harvest Festival on Saturday, Oct. 3, at 10005 Slab Creek Road, with cider pressing and a pumpkin patch. We found no other in-county pumpkin patch event confirmed for 2026.
Pumpkins Became a Craft Project
With no field to pick from, Manzanita's pumpkin events this month happen at a workbench.
Bare Moon Botanicals in Manzanita holds a Pumpkin Planter Workshop on Friday, Oct. 16, at 6 p.m. Advance tickets are required. Down the street, Perch Makers Table opened at 123 Laneda Avenue on Aug. 1 and has scheduled Needle Felting Pumpkins for Saturday, Oct. 24. The creative-reuse nonprofit Heart of Cartm has a paper mache pumpkin workshop on Friday, Oct. 23, from 3 to 6 p.m.
So this year's pumpkins are felted, made of papier-mâché, or turned into planters. For a field of real ones, Astoria or Banks is still the nearest drive.
The Next Three Weeks, in Order
Most of this lands within a few miles of Highway 53 and Laneda Avenue. Here it is by date:
- Wednesday, Oct. 7 and 14. Moon River Farm stand behind Wolfmoon Bakery, Nehalem.
- Friday, Oct. 9, 3 p.m. The Lower Nehalem Community Trust marks the end of the McCoy Marsh tidal reconnection project with a planting and seed toss at the marsh, just north of Wheeler across from the intersection of Highways 53 and 101. At 4 p.m., the restoration team talks about the project at Heart of Cartm. The Trust asks for an RSVP.
- Sunday, Oct. 11, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. White Clover Grange Heritage Apple Festival, 36585 Hwy 53, Nehalem. Bring extra apples and empty jars.
- Friday, Oct. 16, 6 p.m. Pumpkin Planter Workshop at Bare Moon Botanicals, Manzanita.
- Friday, Oct. 23, 3 to 6 p.m. Paper mache pumpkins at Heart of Cartm.
- Saturday, Oct. 24. Needle Felting Pumpkins at Perch Makers Table, Manzanita.
If the trees dropping fruit on your place are part of an older homestead orchard or pasture along the Nehalem, that land has value beyond one Sunday of cider. Made Out West Land Co. works with Tillamook County owners on farm, pasture and timber ground, from figuring out what a parcel holds to finding the buyer who will care for it. Place your dreams in our hands. Contact us to discuss your land.
