Ghosts and Goblins at Koetsier’s

I love Halloween. I love all the harvest parts of it- apple picking and apple cider, hay rides, and picking pumpkins. I love the creative costumes and the sense of community that is built as kids and parents go tramping door to door. I also love that there is something for every age from hay rides, to trick or treating, to spook houses. I love that it has no specific religious affiliation, connotation, or requirement to participate all are welcome in the frivolity.  In general Halloween is about make believe and fun and I am all about fun. The ‘agri-tainment’ industry is big here in Michigan – at least in our neck of the woods. I am not complaining, mind you, I am always up for a hay ride through an orchard, a stroll through a corn maze, or a bit of  berry picking accompanied by ice cream and a petting zoo. This is a perfect example of a local business adapting to provide this kind of fun outing. Koetsiers is a garden shop/plant nursery in the spring and summer. In the fall when that season is done they fill their green houses with Halloween fun for little folks. You pay a flat fee- it was $6  I think -and then all the games and crafts are included including a paint your own pumpkin you get to take home. Cider and doughnuts for both of us included I think I dropped about $12. Not bad for an afternoon of fun.

Come be a part of a stack of jack o'lanterns.

 

A maze made of hay bales with question and answer boards about fruits and vegetables. Reading these was really fun for Caelun- yeah I know big surprise.

Hand pumps at either end that you pump to make water pour out and push rubber ducks along the trough.

Lots of bouncy houses but Caelun could not be persuaded.

A sand box filled with … CORN- yep. This was really fun.

Back to the maze this time brave enough to go into the dark part made from black Mylar with large light up characters at ever corner.

 

A break for some cider and to check out the caldron that bubbles.

$2 for a pumpkin sport bottle full of cider.

Now to paint a pumpkin.

A backdrop to take pictures but it is all so much more interesting that looking at mommy.

Pedal tractors to drive around a ring of hay bales- we didn’t have much more success with it than we have with trikes but it was fun to skooch around on.