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✓ 2026 dates confirmed on the farm's own site

Rufener Hilltop Farms Fall Festival

📍 1022 State Route 43, Mogadore, OH 44260🗓 September 26 – October 25, 2026🏷 From $5/person

Weekday admission is $5 against $14 at weekends, and weekdays are open ten hours rather than seven — the biggest weekday-versus-weekend gap in Northeast Ohio, if you can find out which weekdays it actually opens.

Rufener Hilltop Farms Fall Festival in Mogadore, OH

What you get for the price

Included with admission

Corn mazePick-your-own pumpkinsHayridesBarrel train ridesPumpkin cannonSunflower fieldsFarm animalsYard games

Weekdays: $5 general, $3 seniors 65+. Weekends: $14 general, $12 seniors 65+. Children 3 and under free on both.

Rough cost for a family of four: about $20.00 in admission alone at the posted starting rate, before pumpkins, food, parking or any add-on listed above. Most families end up well north of that once they are through the gate.

Our take

The numbers here are unusual enough to lead with. Weekday admission is $5. Weekend admission is $14. Weekday hours are 9am to 7pm; weekend hours are 11am to 6pm. So the weekday visit costs about a third as much and buys three more hours.

For a family of two adults and two children over the age of 3, that is $20 on a weekday against $56 at a weekend, for the same corn maze, the same pick-your-own field, the same hayride, the same pumpkin cannon. Thirty-six dollars is not a discount, it is a different product. And if grandparents are coming, the weekday senior rate of $3 is the lowest figure of any farm we have looked at in Ohio.

The problem with that plan

The farm does not say which weekdays it is open. It publishes the weekday price and the weekday hours and stops there. Our record notes the days as unspecified because that is genuinely what the site says.

This is not a reason to write the farm off; it is a reason to make one phone call. 330-628-1082, ask which days next week the gate is open, and then go on one of them. What you should not do is drive to Mogadore on a Tuesday because a website quoted you a Tuesday price.

A four-weekend season

September 26 to October 25 is four weekends. That is short even by the standards of northern Ohio pumpkin farms, and it means the entire local demand for this place is compressed into eight weekend days. Whatever the queueing is like at a longer-running farm, assume worse here on a Saturday in mid-October.

It also means the season ends before Halloween. If you are a last-minute pumpkin buyer, this is not your farm.

Sunflowers, and when they are gone

The attraction list includes sunflower fields, which is a real draw and a genuinely good photograph. It is also the part of the farm with the shortest shelf life. Sunflowers come and go earlier in the season than pumpkins do, and a northern field does not hold them through late October. The farm does not publish a window for them. If they are the reason you picked this farm over another, go on the opening weekend and ask when you book.

The rest of the northern arithmetic

Pick-your-own means walking on soil, not standing on a gravel path, and a hilltop site after a wet week is going to be muddy in a way a flat one is not. Wear boots.

And the 7pm weekday close is deceptive across a four-week season. In late September that is an hour of pleasant evening. By the closing weekend of October it is dark, and a farm whose attractions are all outdoors — a maze, a field, a hayride, yard games — stops being much fun once the light goes. Arrive in the morning, which the 9am weekday opening makes unusually easy.

Planning your visit

Best time to go

A weekday, emphatically. Five dollars a head instead of fourteen, and 9am to 7pm instead of 11am to 6pm. The catch is that the farm publishes the weekday prices and hours without ever saying which weekdays it is open, so call 330-628-1082 before you plan around it. The season is short — September 26 to October 25, four weekends in total — which means weekend demand is concentrated into very few days. If sunflowers are part of why you are coming, go early; they are a September crop and they will not be there at the end of October.

How long to budget

Two to three hours. A corn maze, pick-your-own pumpkins, hayrides, a barrel train, the pumpkin cannon, sunflower fields, animals and yard games is a comfortable morning rather than a full day.

Crowds

Four weekends is a short season, and a short season means concentrated demand — every family in Summit and Portage counties who wants this farm has eight days to do it in. The weekday pricing is clearly designed to pull people off those eight days. It works, and you should let it.

Parking

Not described by the farm. A hilltop farm on State Route 43 will park you on grass, and grass on a slope after autumn rain is worse than grass on the flat. Boots if the week has been wet.

What to bring

  • Confirmation of which weekdays the farm is open, obtained by phone before you leave
  • Boots or old shoes for a pick-your-own field, which means walking on soil rather than standing on a path
  • Layers for a 7pm weekday close in October, which is at or past dusk by the end of the run
  • Something to carry pumpkins in, since you will be picking them yourself

How to spend less here

  • Go on a weekday: $5 rather than $14. A family of four saves $36, which is more than the entire weekday cost of the visit
  • Seniors 65 and over pay $3 on weekdays. If grandparents are joining, that is close to free
  • Children 3 and under are free on both weekday and weekend rates
  • Weekdays also open two hours earlier and close an hour later, so the cheaper ticket buys three more hours of farm

Who it suits

Good for

  • Anyone with weekday flexibility — a $9 per person saving is the largest weekday discount in this batch by some distance
  • Seniors, who pay $3 on weekdays and $12 at weekends; the weekday senior rate is the cheapest ticket we have found anywhere in Northeast Ohio
  • Families who want to pick their own pumpkin from the field rather than choose from a pallet
  • Early-season visitors, for the sunflower fields

Skip it if

You can only go at a weekend and are price-sensitive. At $14 a head the weekend rate is ordinary for the region while the weekday rate is exceptional, so the whole argument for this farm evaporates on a Saturday. Skip it too if you need certainty about opening days, which the farm does not provide.

Worth pairing with

Maize Valley in Hartville is only about seven miles away and charges a flat $15 with a winery on site. If you are choosing between them, the answer is almost entirely about which day you can go: on a weekday Rufener is a third of the price, and at a weekend the two are within a dollar of each other.

Common questions

How much does Rufener Hilltop Farms cost?

Weekdays are $5 general admission and $3 for seniors 65 and over. Weekends are $14 general and $12 for seniors. Children 3 and under are free on both.

Which weekdays is Rufener Hilltop Farms open?

The farm publishes weekday hours of 9am to 7pm and a weekday price, but does not specify which days of the week it opens. That is the gap worth closing with a call to 330-628-1082 before you drive out.

When does the Rufener fall festival run in 2026?

September 26 to October 25, 2026 — four weekends. Weekend hours are 11am to 6pm and weekday hours are 9am to 7pm.

Will the sunflowers still be out in October?

The farm lists sunflower fields among its attractions but does not say for how long. Sunflowers are an earlier crop than pumpkins and generally do not last through a northern October, so if the flowers matter to you, plan for the opening weekends rather than the closing ones.

When is Rufener Hilltop Farms Fall Festival open in 2026?

September 26 – October 25, 2026. Weekdays and weekends (specific closed days not published). Hours: Weekends 11am-6pm; weekdays 9am-7pm.

How much does Rufener Hilltop Farms Fall Festival cost?

Admission starts at $5 per person. Weekdays: $5 general, $3 seniors 65+. Weekends: $14 general, $12 seniors 65+. Children 3 and under free on both.

Where is Rufener Hilltop Farms Fall Festival?

1022 State Route 43, Mogadore, OH 44260, in Summit County. It is one of 10 patches we track in Northeast Ohio.

How Rufener Hilltop Farms Fall Festival compares in Northeast Ohio

We track 10 patches in Northeast Ohio. At $5 a head this one sits below the regional median of $14, undercutting 5 of the 6 paid patches we track here.

Its season runs about 30 days against a regional average of 45, so it is a shorter window than most of its neighbours — miss it and the nearest alternatives will still be open.

What sets it apart locally: it has u-pick fields, which most Northeast Ohio patches on our list do not.

Other patches near Mogadore

There is 1 other patch we track in Summit County. All Northeast Ohio patches →

Quick facts

SeasonSeptember 26 – October 25, 2026
Days openWeekdays and weekends (specific closed days not published)
HoursWeekends 11am-6pm; weekdays 9am-7pm
AdmissionFrom $5
CountySummit County
RegionNortheast Ohio

Sources

rufeners.com

Checked August 2026.