A working southwest Georgia roadside market that bolts on a real 5-acre corn maze and a deep list of kid activities for five autumn weekends — good value if the unpublished gate price turns out to be modest, which you should phone and confirm before driving.
Admission prices are not published on the farm's website. Pumpkins, gem mining and concessions are separate purchases.
Mark’s Melon Patch is a produce business first. The roadside market on Albany Highway runs daily, year round in season, and the fall festival is something the farm layers on top of it for five weekends. That framing is worth holding onto, because it explains both the strengths and the gaps: the activity list is long and genuinely farm-grounded, and the marketing around it is thin to the point of not telling you what it costs.
The corn maze is 5 acres with roughly 2.5 miles of trail cut through it, which is a real maze rather than a token loop — plan on 45 minutes to an hour if you take it seriously with kids. Around it sit the things that fill an afternoon: hayrides, a pumpkin patch, gem mining, face painting, pumpkin painting, a jump castle, farm animals and a playground. Nothing exotic, but that is a complete list for a family with kids under about ten.
The two things that distinguish this farm from every other weekend patch within an hour are its night events. Flashlight maze nights put you into the same 5 acres after dark with s’mores and a movie, on six dates in October. The jack-o-lantern hayride runs past more than a hundred lit pumpkins on Oct 15, 16 and 17. Both are the kind of thing that turns a routine pumpkin stop into an evening people remember, and both are the reason to aim at mid-October rather than the opening weekend.
There is no way around this: the farm publishes 2026 dates, publishes its hours, publishes its special-event nights, and publishes no admission price. Gem mining, pumpkins and food are separate purchases on top. For a family of four that is an unbounded number going into the drive, and Dawson is not a place most visitors pass through by accident — it is a 30-minute run from Albany and considerably more from anywhere else. One phone call fixes it.
The season opens Sept 26. Terrell County in late September is still running summer temperatures, and a 2.5-mile maze trail in full sun at 2pm is a different experience than the same walk three weeks later. Neither weekend day opens early enough to duck the heat — 11am Saturday and 1pm Sunday are both squarely into the hot part of the day — so the honest advice is to prefer the second half of October, when the weather cooperates and the better events are running anyway.
By the last flashlight nights on Oct 23 and 24, the flip side applies: south Georgia evenings after sunset in late October get genuinely cool, and standing around a maze exit for an hour is colder than the drive over suggested. Bring a layer for the kids even if you do not think you need one.
One last piece of housekeeping. At least one national patch directory lists this farm under Sasser rather than Dawson, with a longer season and daily hours. That contradicts the farm’s own published weekend-only schedule, and where an aggregator and a farm disagree, the farm wins. Navigate to the Albany Highway address and plan around Saturdays and Sundays.
Saturday opens at 11am and Sunday not until 1pm, so there is no early-morning escape from the heat here. The season starts Sept 26, and late September in Terrell County is still summer — high 80s is normal and the maze has no shade. The back half of October is the better bet on weather and also when the special nights land: flashlight maze nights on Oct 10, 15, 16, 17, 23 and 24, and the jack-o-lantern hayride on Oct 15, 16 and 17. Those two overlap on Oct 15-17, which is the single strongest weekend of the season.
Two to three hours for the daytime activities. The flashlight maze nights run from dusk to 9:30pm and are a separate evening outing rather than an extension of the same visit.
Five weekends, two short days each, in a rural county with a large regional draw from Albany. The Oct 15-17 stretch has both the flashlight maze and the jack-o-lantern hayride running, so expect that to be the busiest window of the season.
Not documented. Most Georgia farm operations of this size park visitors on grass or packed dirt rather than pavement, so plan for closed-toe shoes and expect a slower walk to the gate if it has rained that week.
You need to know the cost before you commit. The farm publishes no admission price at all, and gem mining, pumpkins and concessions are all separate on top of whatever the gate charges. Also skip it if you can only go on a weekday — the fall activities are Saturdays and Sundays only, and only the market is open the rest of the week.
The farm does not publish an admission price. Pumpkins, gem mining and concessions are separate purchases regardless. Phone 229-698-4750 before you go if the budget matters.
Sept 26 through Nov 1, Saturdays 11am-6pm and Sundays 1pm-6pm. The roadside market is open daily 8am-7pm, but the maze and fall activities are weekends only.
Evening runs of the corn maze from dusk to 9:30pm with s'mores and a movie, scheduled for Oct 10, 15, 16, 17, 23 and 24 in 2026. Bring your own light.
September 26 – November 1, 2026. Saturdays and Sundays for the corn maze and fall activities; the roadside market is open daily. Hours: Saturday 11am-6pm; Sunday 1pm-6pm. Market hours 8am-7pm. Flashlight maze nights run dusk to 9:30pm..
Admission pricing was not published when we last checked. Admission prices are not published on the farm's website. Pumpkins, gem mining and concessions are separate purchases.
8580 Albany Highway, Dawson, GA 39842, in Terrell County. It is one of 8 patches we track in Middle Georgia.
We track 8 patches in Middle Georgia. The farm has not published a gate price, so it cannot be compared on cost — call before you budget.
Its season runs about 37 days against a regional average of 38, so it is broadly in line with the rest of the region.
What sets it apart locally: it has a market, bakery or taproom, which most Middle Georgia patches on our list do not.
marksmelonpatch.com · pumpkinpatches.com · pumpkinpatchesandmore.org
Checked August 2026.