Daniel F.
1/5
I normally don't write negative reviews, this may be my first one ever and I'm doing this with hope that Hutchinson's farm owners see it make immediate changes before they go out of business.
This is in regards to them charging a $5 admission, I understand the idea but my comment is on the execution of it.
I've been going for maybe 10 years in a row maybe more, and spend no less than $80 (often more) every visit. Easily dropped $1000 over my visits.
I went on Thanksgiving to be surprised they now charge admission. $5 per person a bit less for kids. Fine, their decision. I understand they can get rammed and overwhelmed and this could help crowd control especially on Thanksgiving.
The issue is what you can access. On IG they advertise their "store" is free. That is sort of true, but misleading because now you have to pay just to access the section where they have pumpkins picked and sorted for easy purchases. I get perhaps charging to access the pumpkin patch but now you have to pay to just buy pumpkins. I'm sure they'll say "we have some in our free section" and no, that selection sucks. As a result we bought $10 worth of pumpkins cause that's all we could find in the tiny free section and left and will not return after a decade of consistency.
Here is the bigger issue, we did not pay out of principle, our choice BUT in the time we were there we saw multiple people question the admission, look unhappy and ultimately paying because they made the trip with their family and felt obligated to pay. I'm very confident many of them will not return next year just like us. What else did this do, well it seemed to bring negativity to visitors and it rubbed off the employees which then rubbed off to other visitors. Ive gone for 10 years and was always greeted with smiles and happy employes, but yesterday it was nothing but miserable employees who were so bitter and unhappy to be there. We did not mention anything to them about our experience, with our son we tried to be happy and positive and was greeted by miserable employees.
Overall, I saw a quiet Thanksgiving which is normally busy. We were nervous when going assuming parking would be hard to find only to see an empty lot which surprised us. Paying $5 in order to be allowed to buy pumpkins, or to do the labour ourselves to pick pumpkins reeks of greed and desperation. The "museum" which is a green house with labeled pumpkins and the small amount of painted pumpkins you see when you pay admission was something that was always free and there every year. You pay $5 more now and for nothing compared to other years. I fear, Hutchinson will be closed by 2027. They'll do ok this year because of people getting caught off guard and paying but they won't be back next year.
Hutchinson will be stuck with alot of rotting pumpkins this year. I hope I'm wrong but I've seen this recipe to failure too often in the past 10 years with other farms.
