A sea of multi-colored pumpkins decorates a hillside near the entrance to the Honeysuckle Hill Farm’s fall festival. Image by Tom Adkinson

SPRINGFIELD, Tenn. – Plenty of farmers stack old-fashioned rectangular hay bales in photo-ready settings, improvise a petting zoo, and even make caramel apples to entice city folk to fall-on-the-farm experiences every year, but a couple of young farmers outside of Nashville put on a bigger show – much bigger.

For five weeks – late September until early November – Justin and Mikayla Yates devote 65 of their 230 acres to a sprawling outdoor party with rides, a petting zoo, a corn maze, musical entertainment, fireworks, a giant slide, a low-key zipline, and pumpkins, pumpkins, and more pumpkins.

The Corn Box, reminiscent of a theme park ball crawls, uses 1,200 bushels of shelled Tennessee corn to create a playground 18 inches deep. Image by Tom Adkinson

The festivities at Honeysuckle Hill Farm include 30 activities that attract up to 8,000 people a day. It’s a blast, especially on Saturdays and Sundays when Yates charges up a massive air cannon and sends pumpkins sailing three-quarters of a mile into the blue autumn sky and over a line of trees. On a smaller scale, visitors can buy a bucket of apples, load them into air-powered apple blasters, and fire them toward a target safely isolated in a grove of trees.

Children with a good musical ear can make this flock of a dozen mechanical chickens sing loudlyImage by Tom Adkinson

The fun started on a small scale. It was an occasion for Jeff Alsup to invite church friends and a few neighbors over to enjoy an autumn day. Alsup describes himself as a city kid from Memphis who never thought his 12-acre hobby farm would become a huge attraction run by his daughter, Mikayla, and her husband Justin Yates, who now round up a workforce that can top 200 people.

A dad helps his young daughter line up a shot on an air-powered apple blaster. The target is safely in a grove of trees.Image by Tom Adkinson

A bright red Farmall tractor (an International Harvester brand) sitting in a patch of zinnias marks the entrance to Honeysuckle Hill Farm. Cars, pickup trucks, and minivans are parked in rows on the adjacent grassy slope, and sounds of the festival cascade down the hill. Hundreds of orange, white, and multi-colored pumpkins adorn a lawn leading to a barn where concessions are sold.

Not far beyond that barn is a variation on a theme park attraction – the ball crawl – but this one is the Corn Box. It’s an open-air structure where the floor is covered with 1,200 bushels of shelled corn 18 inches deep. Parents watch from the perimeter and often must coax their youngsters out of the unusual playground.

The Honeysuckle Hill Farm corn maze honors a Nashville recording artist every year. This year, it’s Lainey Wilson. Image by Tom Adkinson

Across a gentle hill is another corn attraction – the Country Music Corn Maze. It’s a 10-acre plot in which the design is a portrait of a country music star. This year’s featured artist is Lainey Wilson. Previous honorees include Luke Bryant, Reba McEntire, Thomas Rhett, Johnny Cash, and George Strait. Since this is a working farm, Yates notes that there’s plenty of corn to harvest after the festival ends.

Pumpkin butter and apple butter are among adults’ favorite gift items at the Honeysuckle Hill Farm fall festival. Image by Tom Adkinson

Billy goats, chickens, and a rather nonchalant turkey are at the petting farm, but the animals that get the most attention are pigs – and not just any pigs. Twice a day on Saturdays and Sundays, squealing porkers dash around an oval racetrack.

Instead of live musical shows, Honeysuckle Hill Farm has several mechanical music shows that are quite amusing. Among them is the Chicken Piano that features a flock of a dozen chickens that squawk in tune as kids jump on an oversized piano keyboard reminiscent of Tom Hanks in the movie “Big". Another is the Skeleton Band, life-size human skeletons with musical instruments and a song list that includes “Give My Remains To Broadway". George M. Cohan would roll over in his grave if he could hear that.


Trip-planning resources: HoneysuckleHillFarm.com and ExperienceRobertson.com.

(Travel writer Tom Adkinson’s book, 100 Things To Do in Nashville Before You Die, is available at Amazon.com.)