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Dogs can dress up, eat pumpkin pie at Furry Fall Festival

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Serious question: Is there anything better than animals in costumes? No, right? Which is why Valley Animal Center’s Furry Fall Festival is THE place to be this weekend. Not only will there be tons of animals in costumes, there will be plenty of other fun to be had for canines and humans alike!

Furry Fall Festival

Fun for the whole furry and non-furry family

The Second Annual Furry Fall Festival, which takes place at Valley Animal Center on Sunday, Oct. 8, from 1 to 5 p.m., is a fundraiser for the no-kill shelter. Tickets are $5 each and can be purchased online here or at the door. Dogs are welcome as long as they’re well-behaved and on a leash. They get in for free, but owners will have to sign a waiver at the entrance.

Bring your whole family to hang out at the Kid Zone, complete with a bounce house, face painting, pumpkin decorating, “paw-casso” pictures for kids and dogs, a petting zoo, and more. There will be a food court featuring Dutch Bros. coffee, La Imperial Taqueria, and pet-friendly treats. You can also shop from vendors for humans and animals alike.

Costume and food-eating contests a highlight

Personally, I am most excited about the contests at the festival. In addition to a biscuit toss, there will be pumpkin pie-eating contests for both people and dogs. For the sake of their health, the canine version will be a speed round rather than volume, featuring pet-friendly pies with pumpkin purée and whipped cream. I will be signing up my beagle, Grover—aka the canine garbage can—for this one. I have high hopes of victory.

Furry Fall Festival

Contestants in last year’s pumpkin pie eating contest. [photo: Valley Animal Center]

What I will not be signing Grover up for is the costume contest. Because this is what happens when I try to put him in a simple t-shirt for warmth in the winter. He acts like he’s being tortured. Not dramatic at all.

Furry Fall Festival

I can’t wait to see what you all come up with for your dogs, though! Based on the photos from last year, it should be epic. I’ll be taking pictures to feature in another story on FresYes next week, so bring your “A” game!

Furry Fall Festival

Two of my favorite things at last year’s Furry Fall Festival: tacos and dogs. [photo: Valley Animal Center]

Furry friends are available for adoption

Most importantly, make sure you check out the adoptables fashion show, featuring dogs from Valley Animal Center that are looking for a loving home. You might find the perfect match for you or someone you know!

Furry Fall Festival

I got to hang out with the adorable Marmaduke at Valley Animal Center recently. He and many others are looking for their forever homes!

After all, that’s what the Furry Fall Festival is all about: Supporting the amazing work the shelter does for animals in our valley.

The Valley Animal Center is one of my favorite local organizations. So come out, have some fun and learn more about this great place!

Places to Go: Hillcrest Pumpkin Patch

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Hillcrest Pumpkin Patch

At the beginning of the month, I posted about Single Palm Pumpkin Patch, a wonderful family attraction on the far West side of Fresno. For those of you located closer to the Eastern parts of the city, you may enjoy making the short drive to Hillcrest Pumpkin Patch in Reedley, CA, a lovely, family-run, seasonal treasure. Hillcrest, now it its 54th year of operation is located in a heavily-wooded (yet easy enough to find) area of Reedley, and offers picturesque outdoor exploration for the whole family to enjoy.

Hillcrest will delight with a pumpkin patch throughout October and a Christmas tree farm in December. A unique offering of Hillcrest is a beautiful half-scale steam engine train which takes visitors on a 15 minute ride around the farm. During October, Hillcrest is open on weekends from 10am – 5pm, is admission free, and offers visitors a nature trail and play house to explore, $4 train rides, $2 hay rides, snow cones and hot concessions including much-famed corn dogs. Class field trips are also available, and include a pumpkin for each child, hayride, story time and use of the nature trails, playhouse and picnic areas for just $6 per child. Interested teachers should contact Hillcrest at 559-638-2762.

If you enjoy pumpkin hunting at Hillcrest this month, you’ll definitely want to mark your calendars for the Pajama Christmas event in December in which Hillcrest will remain open after dark and offer moonlit train rides, holiday music and lights, fresh baked cookies and a hot cocoa bar to enjoy around fire pits. All guests are encouraged to wear their comfy and cozy pajamas for this special family event. Tickets are sold in advance to ensure groups aren’t too big to make the event enjoyable, so if you’re interested – be sure to snag your tickets well in advance. This event is quite popular.

Hillcrest map

FresYes Families: Places to go – Single Palm Pumpkins

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Natali Carrera

Natali Carrera is a devoted coffee addict who also loves her nine-year-old son, husband of 14 years and bargain hunting at Target. She works full time with ValleyPBS as their Director of Educational Services and is also a freelance writer and YouTube vlogger (as a hobby). She's been told "bubbly" is the best descriptor of her personality, though she wonders if what people really mean is that she talks too much. Natali is a lifelong Fresno resident and Fresno State grad.
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Oh my goodness IT’S OCTOBER!!! My absolute favorite month of the year, hands down, no contest, the ultimate winner! Gorgeous weather, cool enough to sip warm coffee, the return of comfort foods (how I love thee all forms of macaroni and cheese!), corn mazes, pumpkin carving, candy corn – I just love it so much! (Is my enthusiasm jumping out of the screen yet? If not, I could go on…)

Pumpkins in the back of a truck

Large pumpkins straight from the vine at Single Palm Pumpkins (photo credit: Single Palm Pumpkins used with permission)

This month, I’ll be featuring a few of my favorite places to visit in the month of October that I think you’ll love too.

First up is Single Palm Pumpkins – a family owned and operated pumpkin patch located on the west side of Fresno County at 10635 W. Barstow Ave. 93723. This expansive patch offers school tours and field trips, hay bale mazes, hay rides, animals to pet and even stories with grandma! Oh, and pumpkins! 10,000 gorgeous pumpkins straight from the vine. Choose any pumpkin for just $5 – as big as you like!

Single Palm Pumpkins

Single Palm’s pumpkin blossoms in the early morning (photo credit: Single Palm Pumpkins – used with permission)

Why do I love Single Palm so much? A couple of reasons, actually. First, because I have a soft spot for it – as it’s the first pumpkin patch we took our son to when he was just a baby. I’m pretty sure his first year there was also their first year running, so the two have grown nicely since! And secondly, because the family-feel is so real at Single Palm, you feel like you’re visiting your relatives in the country who want you to explore and have fun and have set everything up just so you can do so. Unlike other local seasonal attractions, Single Palm doesn’t charge you for each activity – all you have to pay for is the pumpkins, everything else is FREE!

Single Palm Pumpkins

Take your children to hear a spooky but fun story with Gramma Pumpkin! (Photo credit: Single Palm Pumpkins, used with permission)

Single Palm Pumpkins

Our first trip to Single Palm

Single Palm Pumpkins is open every day in October from 9am – 6pm. It’s just 5 miles west of 99 on Barstow, and you can’t miss it because you’ll see the 100 foot tall, single palm tree as you’re driving up. Visit their website or Facebook page for more information and to see pictures from the patch of the pumpkins from the time they were planted to being ready for picking.