Soergel Orchards opens its gates for fall this Saturday. Down the road on Wexford Run Road, Shenot Farm & Market keeps its pumpkin patch closed for another week. If you've lived through a few Wexford autumns, you've probably felt this gap without ever naming it. Everyone talks about "fall festival season" like it's one thing that starts on one weekend. It isn't, and the difference actually changes how you should plan the next six weeks.
The Weekend That Belongs to Soergel Alone
Soergel's 2026 Fall Festival opens Saturday, September 19, running Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. through November 1. Weekday pumpkin and flower picking follows two days later, starting Monday, September 21, from noon to 5 p.m.
Shenot doesn't open its pumpkin patch until September 26, a full week after Soergel's first weekend gets underway. That means the opening weekend of fall in Wexford, the one everyone posts about, is a Soergel weekend by default. If you show up at Shenot looking for a pumpkin patch this Saturday, you'll find a working farm market open for business but no patch yet.
What Each Farm Actually Is
The date gap makes more sense once you look at what these two places are built to do.
| Soergel Orchards | Shenot Farm & Market | |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 opening weekend | September 19 | September 26 |
| Pumpkin patch closes | November 1 | October 31 |
| Weekend hayrides | Yes, all season | Yes, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. |
| Evening hayrides | Fridays starting October 2 | Not offered |
| Scale | Full retail property with Tiny Town, petting zoo, gift barn, Arsenal Cider House, and gem mining | Working farm and market, apple orchard and produce fields, no separate attractions |
Soergel runs like a small campus. Between the country store, the garden center, the gift barn, and the cider house, a Saturday visit can easily fill two or three hours before you've picked a single apple. Shenot is a family farm that happens to let you walk the rows yourself. There's no gift barn to wander through afterward. That's not a knock on either one. It's the reason their calendars don't match.
What's New at Soergel This Year
A few things changed for 2026 that longtime visitors will notice:
- Back 40 Bites is a new food stand opening near the games and activities area, something the property hasn't had before.
- The Oven Pizza is returning on Fridays and Saturdays, back after previous seasons.
- Friday Night Hayrides start October 2 and run through the end of October, 5 to 7 p.m., at $4 per person, giving you an evening option that didn't exist on the first two Fridays of the festival.
- The apple cider slushies and donuts are still there, because some things at Soergel don't change season to season.
That Friday hayride detail matters if you're the type who prefers an after-work outing over a Saturday crowd. It's not available yet this week. The first one lands two weeks into the festival.
Why Shenot Runs Smaller, on Purpose
Shenot Farm & Market has been farmed by the same family since 1854, and it's now in the hands of the fifth and sixth generation Shenots, according to the farm's own site. The orchard grows 25 varieties of apples as part of a broader operation that includes more than 60 hybrid vegetable and sweet corn varieties, based on the farm's profile with the Tribune-Review. There's no petting zoo or gift shop competing for your afternoon. The farm describes itself simply as a fall-focused operation for apples, corn, and pumpkins, plus a fudge room that regulars know to save room for.
That's the real difference between the two properties, and it's not about which one is better. Soergel is set up to hold your whole afternoon. Shenot is set up for a shorter, quieter visit where the point is the orchard itself.
How the Next Six Weekends Actually Break Down
Here's what that means if you're deciding where to spend a Saturday morning between now and Halloween.
This weekend, September 19 and 20, is Soergel's alone. If you want pumpkins, hayrides, or the full country-store experience, this is the only option running.
Starting the following weekend, September 26 and 27, both farms are open, and the choice becomes about what kind of morning you want. A longer outing with kids, built around Tiny Town and the petting zoo, points toward Soergel. A quieter walk through the orchard rows, ending at the fudge room, points toward Shenot.
Once you hit October, the Friday evening hayride at Soergel opens up a weeknight option that Shenot doesn't offer at all. If Friday nights are when your family actually has time for this, that detail alone might decide it for you.
Both seasons wind down close together. Shenot's patch closes October 31, Soergel's a day later on November 1. They open a week apart and close within a day of each other, which tells you something about how each farm builds its season. Soergel front-loads a longer run with more moving pieces. Shenot keeps a tighter, simpler window built around the orchard.
The Point Isn't Which Farm Wins
Treating Soergel and Shenot as two versions of the same errand is where people end up disappointed, usually by driving to Shenot on opening weekend expecting a pumpkin patch that isn't open yet. Once you know the actual calendar, the choice stops being about which farm is "better" and starts being about which one matches the morning you actually want. Some weekends call for the full production. Others call for a quiet walk through 25 varieties of apple trees and a stop for fudge on the way out.
That's a small thing to know about a town, but it's the kind of small thing that adds up to actually living somewhere instead of just passing through it.
If you're already deep into Wexford life and want more of these local rundowns as the seasons turn, or if you know someone weighing a move to this part of the North Hills and curious what a normal fall weekend here actually looks like, reply with the neighborhood and I'll send over what I've got. More of this kind of ground-level detail lives at Robin Taylor Homes.
