The Pumpkin Farm is located at 7736 Old Auburn Rd. in Citrus Heights. // CH Sentinel
Sentinel staff report– The popular Citrus Heights Pumpkin Farm, which has been in operation for nearly 50 years, will not be reopening for the 2020 season.
“We regret to announce that the Pumpkin Farm will remain closed this October 2020,” a statement on the farm’s website says. “This difficult decision is due to ongoing uncertainties for our operations around social distance rules as well as school field trips this Fall as a result of the current COVID-19 pandemic.”
The farm has opened each October since 1974, when farmer Leonard Shymoniak first opened the attraction. Shymoniak passed away in 2017, but his children and grandchildren have continued operations for the past few years.
The Pumpkin Farm had grown to draw more than 10,000 visitors each October for a month-long “farm experience,” annually featuring corn maze activities, farm animals, a 30-foot tower slide, haunted barn, hayrides and more. Many of the farm’s visitors came from school field trips.
Email and phone messages left Friday seeking comment on future plans for the farm were not returned by press time on Saturday evening.
Leonne Shymoniak, wife of the late Leonard Roy Shymoniak who founded the Citrus Heights Pumpkin Farm, holds a photo with memories from the family farm.
By Thomas J. Sullivan– The Citrus Heights Pumpkin Farm has re-opened for the month of October, bringing back an annual attraction that has drawn families and residents to the farm’s location on Old Auburn Road since the 1970s.
Leonne Shymoniak, wife of the late Leonard Roy Shymoniak, who passed away in November 2017 at age 76, now lives in Brisbane, Australia. She recently visited the Citrus Heights family farm, celebrating her 80th birthday with her three children who grew up on the local farm and taking time to sit down for an interview with The Sentinel.
“Seeing the Pumpkin Farm again brings back so many memories for me,” said Leonne, reaching down to pet her late husband’s dog, Kimba. “Citrus Heights in 1972, when we first moved, was so much more rural back then.”
“Our hobby farm kept horses in some of the paddocks. Cows, sheep, poultry, pigs, goats, rabbits, plus a dog and cat roamed the rest of the acreage,” she recalled.
Her son Thomas and his wife Stephanie, who live in Davis, along with twins Yvonne and Yvette now carry on the family Pumpkin Farm tradition, which began over 40 years ago when their family first opened the farm to the public to pick pumpkins.
Family photos with their three children on the farm are featured in a keepsake family book Leonne compiled.
Her late husband, known as “Farmer Leonard,” obtained a master’s degree in educational administration from the University of Alberta, Canada and was accepted into UCLA for a PhD in educational administration. He worked for the State of California as a senior financial analyst in the chancellor’s office of the state community college system until his retirement in 1999.
Although very accomplished in his professional education career, Leonard was best known in Citrus Heights for his lifetime of farming activities and the imaginative place he created each Halloween.
“Generations have grown up visiting the Pumpkin Farm and I think it’s just as popular as it’s ever been,” said Leonne. “I think my husband Leonard would be proud to know that our family is carrying on the tradition he started.”
The Shymoniak family ran a small-scale poultry, egg and dairy ranch in the 1970s and the family started growing pumpkins on the farm and offering school children a tradition which continues today. Pumpkins are no longer grown on the farm, but are brought in from outside sources each year.
“Even the old Ford pickup truck I used to drive the children while they were growing up is still here,” said Leonne. “There’s a scary scarecrow trapped under its front hood with her feet sticking out.”
The Pumpkin Farm’s popular corn maze is just the right height for young children who enjoy exploring its many pathways. Another popular attraction is the haunted barn, known to be “full of hungry creatures, goblins and other terrifying critters,” according to the farm’s website.
“We all contributed in different ways to the building of the attractions. My wedding dress is in there,” Leonne said. “It’s going to good use, now worn by the bride of Frankenstein.”
Visitors can learn more about the Pumpkin Farm’s
collection of extensive antique farm equipment which dates from the horse-drawn
era, to the dawn of industrial farming in the 1950s. Additional points of
interest include the farm’s 100-year old fruit and olive orchards, colorful,
fun scarecrow displays, barn owl nests and old turkey barns.
“Leonard built
many of the featured attractions by himself, including an excursion train which
still takes children and guests around the property,” she said. “He loved
entertaining the children who visited our farm each year.”
The Pumpkin Farm’s history began around the late 1850’s when the oak forested land in this area was sub-divided into 10-acre small-scale farms for new immigrants moving into the area after the Gold Rush.
Situated on Old Auburn Road, which ran from Auburn to Sacramento and on to San Francisco, the farm was first logged to produce lumber to supply the rapid expansion in Old Sacramento and the railroad industry, according to the farm’s website. Later, the farm was used as a mixed fruit and nut orchard, a dairy and cattle ranch, turkey ranch and for bee-keeping.
In 2009, a go-kart train ride made its debut, allowing children to take a fun ride around the farm through places the excursion train which Leonard built, or the hayride couldn’t go.
From goats to turkeys to pot-bellied pigs, visiting children can meet a wide range of farm animals.
Four different slides varying in height from 10 feet to 30 feet high offer a thrill for children of all ages. Hayrides and a jump house are also featured on the farm.
“The train is a moving work of art, and the kids love it year after year,” said Stephanie Szymoniak. The train was regularly featured in the City of Citrus Heights Red, White and Blue Parade down Sunrise Boulevard with Farmer Leonard at the wheel.
“Leonard truly loved this place as did all our family,” she said. “He enjoyed sharing it with the community, and in his memory, we’re hoping to keep the Pumpkin Farm going for many more years to come.”
The Pumpkin Farm is open Tuesdays through Sundays during the month of October and is located at 7736 Old Auburn Rd. in Citrus Heights. Call (916) 726-1137 for more information or to schedule a school field trip. Visit www.pumpkinfarm.net for more information.
A tractor pulls visitors along for a hayride tour of the Pumpkin Farm in Citrus Heights. Photo from 2014, CHSentinel.
Updated Oct. 13, 3:46 p.m.–
The Pumpkin Farm in Citrus Heights opened its annual month-long “farm experience” on Oct. 2 this year, featuring corn maze activities, a farm zoo and a 30-foot tower slide.
Tucked away off Old Auburn Road near Sunrise Boulevard, the Farm celebrated its 40th anniversary last year, making it one of California’s oldest family-run pumpkin farms. The attraction now draws over 10,000 visitors each October, according to Shymoniak-family operators, with youth groups and school field trips accounting for the majority of visits.
Farm operator Yvonne Shymoniak previously told The Sentinel she sees the seasonal attraction as “more of a farm experience than a Halloween experience,” highlighting several activities offered, like weaving through tall corn stalks, learning about farm operations, petting goats, or picking out a pumpkin from one of the 100 tons of pumpkins grown on the 16-acre property.
Hopping on a hayride takes small groups on a meandering tour throughout the Farm — and also on a journey back in history — as 73-year-old Leonard Shymoniak presents an overview of the Farm’s past 120 years, beginning with its use for harvesting oak wood in the late 1800’s, before becoming an orchard, and then an area for bee-keeping, raising turkeys and dairy. In 1974 the Farm merged into its current use as a pumpkin farm.
Although only open for a month each year, family operators say it takes about six months of work each year to prepare for the annual busy season, with corn being planted in late July and other events and plantings needing several months to get ready. The Farm is primarily operated by “Farmer Leonard” and three of his children.
Opening at 9 a.m. each day — except when closed on Mondays for a “sanity break” — Yvonne said mornings are typically filled with school groups, and recommends the general public come after 12 o’clock to miss the rush and fully enjoy the activities and learning experiences. Although mostly known by visitors in the greater-Sacramento area, the Farm gained extended recognition when it won first place at the 2010 Half Moon Bay Giant Pumpkin Festival contest for growing a 1,535-pound pumpkin.
Open through Oct. 31, the Pumpkin Farm is located at 7736 Old Auburn Road in Citrus Heights and is open Tuesday-Sunday in October. More information is available on the Farm’s web site: pumpkinfarm.net [follow text=”Get local news:”]
With storm clouds looming overhead, Citrus Heights’ Pumpkin Farm closed out its month-long October season at noon Friday — after selling out of pumpkins and finishing a final school group tour, according to Leonard Shymoniak, who runs the Farm with three of his children.
A young boy looks on as eager goats stretch through a fence to be fed and petted at the Pumpkin Farm, Thursday.
“We had pretty good weather this year,” said the farmer, glad that rains didn’t dampen his Farm’s attractions this season. On the flipside though, he added that the lack of rain caused a little problem with dryness and dust.
Tucked away off Old Auburn Road near Sunrise Boulevard, the Farm celebrated its 40th year of operation this season, and annually attracts about 10,000 visitors, according to the family operators.
The month-long local “farm experience” opens for business each October, and is closed to the public for the remaining months. Far from being dormant the rest of the year however, the Shymoniaks say it takes six months of work each year to prepare for the annual busy season, with corn being planted in late July and other attractions and plantings needing several months to get ready.
Open Tuesday-Sunday each October, the seasonal attraction is described by its operators as “more of a farm experience than a Halloween experience,” complete with mazes through tall corn stalks, tours of farm operations, animal-petting, and picking out a pumpkin from one of the 100 tons of pumpkins grown on the 16-acre property.
The Pumpkin Farm is located at 7736 Old Auburn Rd. in Citrus Heights. More information is available on the Farm’s web site: pumpkinfarm.net
