Thirty years ago, when Kelly Schultz announced his intention to start a pumpkin farm, “everyone laughed at me,” he says. Mr. Schultz, a second-generation antiques dealer, had no farming experience when he bought a small farm in Clarence, New York, in 1993.
Now no one thinks he has exhausted his strength.
Mr. Schultz, 74, is the owner and operator of the Great Pumpkin Farm, a seasonal attraction about 24 miles northeast of Buffalo that attracts more than 100,000 visitors each fall.
According to documents reviewed by CNBC Make It, the Great Pumpkin Farm brought in $2 million in annual revenue in 2025, but is open for just seven weeks a year.
This year, the farm is open to visitors from September 19th to October 31st, and visitors don’t just come to buy pumpkins. With a $20 weekend admission ticket, fall lovers can ride the farm’s pumpkin-themed train, explore a giant corn maze, and participate in attractions such as a pie-eating contest.
Halloween is a big deal for Schultz and other seasonal business owners. Halloween-related spending is expected to reach $13.5 billion in the U.S. in 2026, according to a consumer survey released in September by the National Retail Federation. Of the 74% of Americans celebrating the holiday this year, 42% said they planned to carve a pumpkin.
Schulz said the Great Pumpkin Farm has seen “an increase in attendance almost every year.”
During the fall, “we have people coming here almost every weekend,” he said. “They love it so much that they keep coming back.”
Giant pumpkin put them ‘on the map’
Schultz, who runs a year-round antique store and antique auction business, said he was inspired to start the farm after visiting pumpkin fields in upstate New York in the early 1990s. The farm had “a muddy parking lot and very few restrooms,” but there were “countless people” walking around and buying pumpkins, he recalls.
“I looked around and thought, ‘I can do more of this, I can do better than this,'” Schultz says. Then the old cattle farm next door to the antique store came up for sale, and he bought the 85 acres for about $650,000, he said.
With the help of other local farmers, Schultz learned how to grow his own gourds, and Great Pumpkin Farm officially opened in 1996. But Schultz had bigger plans for his farm. That same year, he asked Ray Waterman, founder of the World Pumpkin Federation, an organization dedicated to giant pumpkins and pumpkin cultivation, to hold the annual World Pumpkin Weighing at the Great Pumpkin Farm.
Schultz purchased prize protection insurance to cover the cost of prizes for contests and promotions, offering $50,000 to anyone who brought in a pumpkin weighing 1,000 pounds or more. He placed advertisements in newspapers “all over the country” to promote the weigh-in. The winning pumpkin, grown by a couple from Lowville, New York, broke the then-world record at 1,061 pounds.
Great Pumpkin Farm first weighed pumpkins in 1996.
Provided by Kelly Schultz
“We were in magazines and newspapers all over the world,” Schulz recalls. “This puts us on the map right away.”
The Great Pumpkin Farm still holds a weigh-in event every October, and this year’s heaviest pumpkin weighed a whopping 1,908.5 pounds, nearly double the winning pumpkin from 1996.
Hay rides, pumpkin cannons, etc.
Lately, Schultz hasn’t put much effort into growing gourds. To meet demand, most of the farm’s pumpkins are purchased from nearby farms. But the Great Pumpkin Farm’s 50-foot pumpkin pyramid, visible from the road, is still the first thing visitors see when they arrive. Schultz said the farm stocks more than 25,000 pumpkins each year.
Visitors choose pumpkins for purchase at the Great Pumpkin Farm.
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Weekend visitors pay $20 per ticket, which covers admission for both days. Participate in a wide range of activities including hay rides, pie-eating contests, magic shows, giant slides, live music, train rides, a kid-friendly “Boobahn” and pumpkin pedal carts, just to name a few.
For an additional fee, visitors can try out farm fairground rides, a pumpkin cannon, a zombie paintball train, carnival games, and a Buffalo Bills-themed corn maze. Schultz hosts a variety of festival food vendors, from barbecue to specialty grilled cheese sandwiches, along with the farm’s bar and bakery.
“When you come out here and spend your day, you haven’t done everything yet,” he says.
Admission is free on weekdays and the atmosphere is more relaxed. Visitors can purchase pumpkins, visit the Halloween store, bar and bakery, and enjoy the outdoor playground, petting zoo and hay maze.
Schultz brings animals from the petting zoo to the farm’s fall festival.
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Schulz said it takes a huge amount of effort to put on a festival this fall. He employs more than 100 seasonal workers during the seven weeks the farm is open each year, and their duties range from driving tractors hauling hay to serving pumpkin donuts.
Rising gas prices are another big expense, Schultz said. It takes “a lot of fuel” to maintain the grounds and run the tractors that move the hay. Schultz predicts the business’ revenue will be “a little bit lower” in 2026 as it tries to avoid raising admission prices.
“This business has been profitable, but typically we take most of the money and try to put it back into the business,” Schultz said.
For an additional admission fee, the farm also offers an amusement park and carnival games.
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Schultz owns the land surrounding the farm (about 300 acres in total), so he says there’s always room to expand. Every year, he aims to “do something new, something fun, or upgrade something we already have.”
Creating “business that transcends generations”
The farm has grown into a family operation. Schultz’s son, Ben, has helped run the farm and antiques business for the past 25 years.
“I love spending time with my dad, and that’s how I got involved in all this,” said Ben Schultz, 45. “I’m so proud of what he’s built here, and I’m really happy to be a part of it.”
Ben Schultz said their common goal for Great Pumpkin Farm is to “continue the momentum.” From the farm’s simple beginnings, “it’s hard to imagine it ever got this big,” he says.
Kelly Schultz said her grandchildren have also started helping around the farm.
“They love coming here,” he says. “They all want to be here all the time, every day.”
“We are confident that pumpkin farming will become a business that lasts for generations,” he continues. “It’s definitely a family event.”
Kelly Schultz and her son Ben stand in front of the pumpkin pyramid at the Great Pumpkin Farm.
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Schultz said the farm is busy during October, but everything shuts down after Halloween. The petting zoo animals will be returned to their original farms. Amusement park rides are packed up and removed, and pig farmers scavenge leftover pumpkins for use as feed. Schultz said it will take about a month to clear everything and clear the grounds.
For the rest of the year, about 20 full-time staff members help maintain and mow the Great Pumpkin Farm’s old barn buildings.
Otherwise, it’s back to selling antiques for Schultz and his family, at least until next fall.
