No gate fee and a genuinely a-la-carte price list - $5 corn maze, $6 gemstone mining, $1 trains, free jumping pillow - which makes it either the cheapest big farm in mid-Michigan or an expensive one, depending on how disciplined you are.
There is no gate admission - the mill, gift shop, pie barn and most of the grounds are free. Individual paid activities: corn maze $5 per person, gemstone mining $6, pumpkin train $1, kids train $1, orchard wagon rides $5 at weekends, u-pick sunflowers $10 to fill a jar. The jumping pillow, farm 5K trail and pedal tractor park are free. Pumpkins are sold by weight.
Rough cost for a family of four: about $4.00 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.
Free to walk in. Your spend here is whatever you choose — pumpkins, food, and any paid activities. That makes it a low-risk stop if you are not sure how long the kids will last.
Uncle John’s is priced the way a fairground is priced, and that is the single most useful thing to understand before you go. There is no gate. Nobody takes money from you on the way in, and the mill, the gift shop, the pie barn and most of the grounds cost nothing to walk around. Then there is a price list, and it is a long one.
Corn maze $5 a person. Gemstone mining $6. Pumpkin train $1. Kids train $1. Orchard wagon rides $5 at weekends. U-pick sunflowers $10 to fill a jar. Pumpkins by weight. And, importantly, free: the jumping pillow, the farm 5K trail, and the pedal tractor park.
A family of two adults and two children can do this two very different ways.
The disciplined version: park free, walk in free, put the children on the jumping pillow and the pedal tractor park for an hour, do the corn maze at $5 a head, buy a bag of donuts and a modest pumpkin. Call it $20 for the maze plus food and the pumpkin. That is a strong half-day for the price of a couple of cinema tickets.
The undisciplined version: maze at $20, gemstone mining at $24, two trains for each child at $4, weekend wagon rides at $20, a sunflower jar at $10 and a large pumpkin by weight. You are past $80 on activities alone, before food, at a farm that advertises itself as having no admission charge.
Neither of those is dishonest on the farm’s part - the prices are published clearly, which is more than several farms in this batch manage. But an a-la-carte site rewards deciding in the car park what you are buying, and punishes deciding at each stand.
A jumping pillow, a pedal tractor park and a 5K trail across the farm are not consolation prizes. The pillow and the tractor park are exactly the kind of thing children return to repeatedly, which is what actually fills an afternoon, and the 5K trail is a genuinely unusual offer - most orchards give you rows to walk between, not a marked route.
The farm warns about this itself, which is a good sign about the rest of its information. Satellite navigation routes people into the city of St. Johns. The mill is about seven miles north of there. The farm’s own workaround is to route to Emerald Golf Course instead - the mill is across the road and slightly north.
Put that in before you leave, not when you are already in the wrong town with restless passengers.
In late August 2026 the Visit page said Thursday to Sunday, 9:00am to 6:00pm. The home page said seven days a week, with events from September 1. Those cannot both be current, and the most likely reading is a farm mid-transition into its full fall schedule. The Activities page gives seasonal bands - roughly 9:00am to 7:00pm in August and September, 9:00am to 6:00pm in October and November, 11:00am to 5:00pm in December.
No firm 2026 season start or end date is published. Call 989-224-3686 for your specific day, particularly if you are driving from Lansing or further.
The taproom pours hard cider, wine and spirits, Friday to Sunday, on varying hours. Combined with an autumn calendar built on Jeep Invasion, Bronco Takeover, craft shows, an Orchard Run 5K and a Howl-o-Ween party, this is a site that runs adult events alongside the family farm. That is a plus if you are visiting without children and a thing to check if you are visiting with them - an event weekend is a different and much busier place.
Leashed dogs are welcome outdoors, not inside buildings, and there are dedicated Yappy Hours in the fall.
One last date worth marking: on Halloween the mill runs bulk cider days from 11:00am to 3:00pm, where you bring your own containers. If you get through cider by the gallon, that is the cheapest way to buy it here.
The farm is mid-transition to full fall hours: as of late August 2026 the Visit page said Thursday to Sunday 9:00am to 6:00pm, while the home page advertised seven days a week with events from September 1. Roughly 9:00am to 7:00pm in August and September, 9:00am to 6:00pm in October and November. No firm 2026 season start or end is published. Weekday mornings in late September are the version to aim for - before the big event weekends load the site.
Half a day, four hours or so. With 21 listed things to do, several of them free and repeatable, this is one of the few farms on this list where a full afternoon is genuinely justified.
The event calendar is the crowd story. Jeep Invasion, Bronco Takeover, Sunflower Fest and Howl-o-Ween are destination events that fill the site, and a farm with no gate has nothing to meter arrivals. Check the events calendar before choosing a date, either to catch an event or to avoid one.
Not published as a charge, and no parking fee appears. Assume farm parking on unpaved ground. The bigger navigation issue is getting here at all - see the FAQ on GPS.
Not published. The mill, pie barn, gift shop and taproom are the built part of the site; the corn maze, 5K trail, pumpkin patch and sunflower u-pick are all field surfaces.
You want a single wristband that covers everything - that is not how this farm is priced, and a family that says yes to every stand will pay more than a gated fair would have charged. Skip it too if you cannot check hours first, since the farm's own pages contradicted each other in August 2026.
Phillips Orchards & Cider Mill is the other St. Johns mill and presses on a traditional rack-and-cloth press, which tastes noticeably different - but it opens Saturday and Sunday only, September and October, 10:00am to 6:00pm. Pairing the two only works at a weekend, and people regularly assume Phillips keeps Uncle John's hours. It does not.
No. There is no gate admission - the mill, gift shop, pie barn and most of the grounds are free. You pay per activity: corn maze $5 per person, gemstone mining $6, pumpkin train $1, kids train $1, orchard wagon rides $5 at weekends, u-pick sunflowers $10 to fill a jar. The jumping pillow, farm 5K trail and pedal tractor park are free. Pumpkins are sold by weight.
This is a known problem the farm itself warns about. GPS routes people into the city of St. Johns, but the mill is roughly seven miles north of it. The farm suggests entering Emerald Golf Course instead, since the mill sits across the road and slightly north of it.
Unclear from the published pages in August 2026. The Visit page said Now Open Thursday to Sunday 9:00am to 6:00pm; the home page said Now Open 7 Days a Week with events from September 1. The farm appears to be mid-transition to full fall hours. Call 989-224-3686 to confirm your day.
Yes, leashed dogs are allowed outdoors but not inside buildings, and the farm runs dedicated Yappy Hours during the fall.
2026 dates had not been published when we last checked. In past seasons it has run: Thursday-Sunday as of late August 2026, moving to seven days a week for the fall season. Check with the farm before driving out.
Admission is free. There is no gate admission - the mill, gift shop, pie barn and most of the grounds are free. Individual paid activities: corn maze $5 per person, gemstone mining $6, pumpkin train $1, kids train $1, orchard wagon rides $5 at weekends, u-pick sunflowers $10 to fill a jar. The jumping pillow, farm 5K trail and pedal tractor park are free. Pumpkins are sold by weight.
8614 North US-127, St. Johns, MI 48879, in Clinton County. It is one of 4 patches we track in Mid-Michigan.
We track 4 patches in Mid-Michigan, 4 of which are free to walk into. Entry here costs nothing, which puts it in the minority even in a region with several free options.
What sets it apart locally: it has rides and play structures, which most Mid-Michigan patches on our list do not.
One caveat worth repeating: this farm had not published its 2026 dates when we last checked, while 0 of the 4 patches we track in Mid-Michigan had. Treat any date you see elsewhere as last year's until the farm confirms it.
There is 1 other patch we track in Clinton County. All Mid-Michigan patches →
Map pin is set to the town centre. Navigate to the street address above, not the pin.
ujcidermill.com
Checked August 2026.