Tony Ferrara has seen apple years at Happy Apple Farm when the branches got so heavy they bent or snapped. This September the trees were bare. On April 18, while the orchard was blooming, the temperature dropped to 22 degrees and killed the blossoms before they could set fruit. It is the second year in a row the farm has lost its apple harvest. Ferrara told KOAA that hadn't happened once in the 42 years his family has owned the property.
The same freeze hit Penrose's orchards, and the farms came out of it differently. The ones open this fall are the ones that never relied on apples alone. So for the rest of 2026, a Penrose fall weekend runs through pumpkin patches, and each patch runs on its own setup.
One freeze, two outcomes
Third Street Apples updated its website on May 21 to say it would be "closed (again)" for the 2026 season because the April 18 freeze left no apples in the orchard. In a normal year the orchard is open Thursday through Sunday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., with no admission fee and no reservation needed. This year none of those hours apply.
Happy Apple Farm lost its apples the same night and is open anyway. Ferrara explained why to KOAA:
"Luckily we diversified. We don't have all our eggs in one basket. If we had nothing but apples, then, you know, yes, we'd be closed."
The other crop is pumpkins, and the farm also has a country store to carry it through the season. Ferrara said there was little he could have done once it hit 22 degrees. Smudge pots can warm an orchard by a few degrees, but he doesn't think they would have been enough that night. He has no plans to stop growing apples. He is leaning on the pumpkin patch and the store this year and hoping for a bumper crop next year.
Penrose still held its 92nd annual Apple Day on Saturday, October 3, with food vendors and community organizations lining Broadway Street. The festival went ahead. The u-pick season did not.
Happy Apple Farm, the free version of fall
Happy Apple's pumpkin patch opened Saturday, September 19. It runs Friday through Sunday, 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., at 1190 1st St. Admission, parking and the hayride around the patch are all free, no reservation is needed, and pets are welcome. You pay only for pumpkins and whatever you buy in the store.
The farm's website lists pumpkins at $1.15 a pound. The website isn't dated, so treat that price as a starting point and confirm it at the stand. The country store is the second reason the farm could open this year. Its stock includes jams, jellies, marinades, salsa, apple butter, local honey, roasted Pueblo chiles and fresh-pressed apple cider. The posted list puts a half-gallon of cider at $10 and roasted chiles at $45 a bushel or $8 for a quart bag.
The website also lists fresh apples for sale in the store, but there are none to pick from the trees. KOAA suggested that anyone driving out specifically for local apples check for an update first. That's a reasonable call before you load up the car or invite visiting family.
Because there's no gate fee and dogs are allowed, Happy Apple works for a short daytime stop. Its hours end at 4:30, so plan on a morning or early afternoon.
Pop's Pumpkin Patch, the ticketed evening
Pop's Pumpkin Patch is a family-run farm at 1940 13th St., with the barn entrance at the corner of 13th and T streets. It runs on weekends only from September 26 through November 1, 2026: Saturdays 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Sundays 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Entry is by ticket. Pop's sells a Day Pass and a separately reserved Haunted Hay Ride. Children age 2 and under get in free, and pumpkins cost extra. The admission prices posted on third-party listings don't agree with each other, so check the ticket page for the current price before you go.
The Day Pass covers tractor rides through a spooky forest to pick out pumpkins, plus a maze, a corn pit, a tube slide, games, baby goats, photo displays and s'mores at the fire pits. The Haunted Hay Ride runs Saturdays from 7 to 9 p.m. That makes Pop's the one Penrose patch where a fall outing can go past dark.
Pop's and Happy Apple are both in Penrose, and they're set up differently. Happy Apple is free to enter and you pay by the pound. Pop's charges admission and pumpkins are extra. Happy Apple closes in the afternoon. Pop's has an evening ride. Many Penrose families could reasonably visit both in one fall.
Diana's, where even the pumpkin field is resting
The nearest large patch outside Penrose shows that farms protect next year's crop in different ways. Diana's Pumpkin Patch & Corn Maze in Cañon City is letting its pumpkin field rest in 2026 as part of a crop-rotation plan. There are no pumpkins on the vine to cut this year. The farm is setting freshly harvested pumpkins out across the field for families to choose from, and it expects vine-cutting to return in 2028.
The pumpkins are still grown by the family. Jimmy Madone grows Diana's extra-large jack-o'-lanterns in Cañon City, a variety the farm says no one else in Southern Colorado grows. The season runs September 19 through November 1, weather permitting. Hours are 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays with last admission at 8, and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sundays with last admission at 5. This year's corn maze has a Mario Brothers galaxy theme, and the farm is promoting a costume, treat and flashlight-maze night for Halloween, which falls on a Saturday this year. For weather closures, the farm lists 719-821-9133.
Happy Apple's pumpkins and store kept a frozen orchard open. Diana's rotation gives a tired field a year off. Neither move shows up much in a single season, but both decide whether a farm is still open years from now.
How the remaining weekends line up
Today is Sunday, October 4. That leaves four full weekends of October plus the first day of November. Here is how the options fit together:
- Friday daytime: Happy Apple, 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Pop's is closed Fridays. Diana's opens at 10 a.m. and stays open until 9 p.m.
- Saturday evening: Pop's Haunted Hay Ride from 7 to 9 p.m. with a reservation, or Diana's corn maze until last admission at 8.
- Sunday afternoon: All three are open. Happy Apple closes first, at 4:30.
- Saturday, October 31: Penrose Park & Recreation District holds a Trunk-or-Treat at Penrose Park, 401 Park Place, from 4 to 6 p.m. It ends an hour before Pop's Haunted Hay Ride begins, and Diana's Halloween flashlight maze is the same night.
- Sunday, November 1: Last listed day for Pop's and Diana's.
If it's Penrose fruit you're after
Third Street Apples' closure notice points visitors next door to Degenhart Orchard at 955 3rd St. Degenhart sells Jonathan, Jonagold, Red Delicious and Yellow Delicious apples, plus plums, pears and Asian pears, in boxes and bags from a roadside tent. We couldn't confirm Degenhart's 2026 schedule or what it has after the freeze, so drive by before you build a trip around it.
The same notice suggests lunch at This and That BBQ on Broadway, or at the Gooseberry Patch, Two Sisters Restaurant and Coyote's Coffee Den on Highway 115. Guajiros Cuban Cafe at 880 Marilyn Drive celebrated its first anniversary in July. It's open Wednesday and Thursday 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., Friday and Saturday 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Sunday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. A Saturday that starts at Happy Apple, stops at Guajiros for lunch and ends on Pop's hay ride all happens inside Penrose.
Third Street Apples ended its closure notice by saying it hopes for an apple crop next year, and Ferrara said the same. Until then, Penrose's fall happens in its pumpkin fields.
At Gold District Realty, we track the details that make a place work, from water shares to a farm adding a second crop to get through a bad year. If you own Penrose acreage and wonder how your land, water and outbuildings fit into a property's value, start with an Instant Property Valuation, and Ruthie will follow up with the local context a number can't give you.
