Four Businesses Making the Most of the Season
There’s no time quite like the fall: temperatures dip, the air turns crisp, and leaves transform into a vibrant patchwork of red, orange, and gold. Fall also offers a bounty of seasonal fun, from getting lost in a corn maze and picking pumpkins and apples to braving haunted houses. Here, we chat with four fall businesses to learn how they started, the biggest challenges of running a seasonal business, and much more.
When Charles McSpadden started his orchard in the early 1960s, it was just two apple trees in his backyard.
“My mom saw how much he enjoyed his new hobby and suggested he plant some more,” shares his son, Chuck McSpadden, current owner of Apple Valley Orchard. “She was thinking maybe 40, but he came home with 400.”
In 1972, the family sold their first apples out of an old chicken house. Now a 40-acre, family-owned and -operated orchard, Apple Valley Orchard offers more than 25 different varieties of apples.
“We also have a bakery, where we make fresh fried pies and pastries daily, and a cider mill,” shares McSpadden. “The varieties used for cider vary throughout the season, so each batch is a unique blend.”
While some varieties of apples are ready for harvest as early as July, the orchard is busiest during the fall months.
“There’s no time to rest during September and October at the orchard. Those are our two main months for harvest,” shares McSpadden. “We’re constantly picking apples, grading them, and making apple cider.”
Besides harvest-related tasks, other orchard duties include hosting children visiting on school field trips on weekday mornings and assisting families purchasing apples, pies, cider slushies, and more on the weekends.
“Our whole year is spent preparing for these few months,” says McSpadden. “They go by fast, but seeing all the happy visitors makes all the hard work worth it.”
But running an orchard is much more than just harvest in the fall. McSpadden and his team work year-round to prepare the orchard for guests.
“The rest of the year we’re planting, pruning, thinning, and doing general orchard maintenance,” adds McSpadden. “It’s mostly done by hand – one tree at a time – so a lot of work goes into making the best crop.
Starting in 2024, Apple Valley Orchard began offering U-pick events, which they plan to offer for select dates again this coming fall. They’ve also added a sunflower field for U-pick flowers.
“We strongly recommend checking our website or social media to see what apple varieties we’re harvesting and if there are any special events going on,” finishes McSpadden. “Every week is different here on the orchard!”
Open to the public for the past 26 years, Guthrie Pumpkin Farm and Corn Maze is a working cattle farm that welcomes visitors each fall for more than 40 seasonal activities.
“We strive to create a space where families can unplug and spend time together – enjoying the outdoors and each other while learning a little bit about agriculture,” shares owner Josh Guthrie.
The farm’s main attractions include the pumpkin patch and corn maze, but other fan-favorite activities are the giant corn tub, bounce pad, bee and cow trains, and the animal petting barn.
“Our farm is unique in that we take visitors to an actual pumpkin field, and they can pick out the pumpkins directly from the patch,” adds Guthrie.
During the week, Guthrie Pumpkin Farm and Corn Maze closes the farm to the public and hosts field trips for schools and other organizations.
“As former educators, field trips hold a special place for us,” says Guthrie. “Many of the children who visit us have limited, if any, experience on the farm. We strive to make the field trips educational and memorable for students and teachers alike.”
Each year, the farm opens the last weekend in September and closes on the last Sunday in October, but prepping the farm is a year-round feat. During each year’s season, the team begins planning the next year’s event.
“In April, fields are prepped for planting and seed and fertilizer are ordered. In June, the pumpkins are planted. In July, we plant the corn,” says Guthrie. “By August we are clearing out barns, cutting out the maze, caring for the pumpkin vines, and planting the sunflowers and zinnias. Finally, during the fall season we are juggling normal farm activities with the day-to-day operation of the patch.”
Despite the challenges of long workdays, unpredictable weather, and the occasional runaway piglet, the team at Guthrie Pumpkin Farm and Corn Maze enjoys playing a part in their guest’s fall traditions and memories.
“It is so exciting to have families that we first saw 20 years ago now bringing their children and grandchildren,” finishes Guthrie. “Lives are so busy and responsibilities demand attention, so we are honored to be a place where families can reconnect and celebrate the fall season.”
Home of the River Maze
While Ocoee Valley Farms – home of the River Maze – was officially founded by Joe and Dianne Fetzer in 2005, the idea for their iconic corn maze began to develop years earlier.
“We read about a corn maze in Indiana in the mid-1990s. We visited it during the summer of 1997 and talked with the owners at length,” says Dianne Fetzer. “In the year 2005, we visited the Centennial Mall in Nashville and saw a map of all the rivers in the TVA water system and said: ‘Wouldn’t that be a great theme for a corn maze?’ The rest is history.”
Now, Ocoee Valley Farms also offers a pumpkin patch and more than 20 fall-themed activities, such as an obstacle course, kiddie ziplines, train rides, and much more. But the farm’s signature attraction remains the River Maze: eight acres of extra tall corn designed with intricate patterns and themes that changes yearly.
This year’s theme will highlight the area’s stunning scenery, with the Tennessee River and mountains depicted in the maze’s pattern.
While designing and laying out the corn maze, as well as getting enough rain for crops to grow, can be challenging tasks, the excitement on children’s faces makes it all worth it for the Ocoee Valley Farms team, especially when they host educational field trips at the farm.
“Once, a school group visited from inner-city Chattanooga. They had never seen a farm before,” shares Fetzer. “Two students grabbed my husband’s hands and walked around with him over our venue. Later, we got pictures that the students had drawn telling about their trip and how ‘It was the best day ever!’”
For more corn maze fun at the farm, guests can try their hand at the new storybook trail. With three different phases, featuring themes like “Jack and the Cornstalk,” these mazes are designed with younger students and families with small children in mind. For those looking to visit the farm this coming fall, Fetzer advises: “Familiarize yourself with all the things we have to offer, and prepare for the weather and terrain of the farm by wearing proper clothing and shoes.”
While Ruby Falls has partnered with the creative team from Fear Factor to produce award-winning haunts for the past 22 years, their current venture – Dread Hollow – is entering its ninth year.
Recognized as one of the top haunted attractions in the nation, and the only nationally ranked haunted house in Chattanooga, Dread Hollow boasts horror-fueled storytelling across more than 25,000-square feet of designed sets and horror-based escape rooms.
“Ruby Falls was inspired to start a haunt attraction because we had a unique venue and creative people who love to entertain,” says Kara Van Brunt, executive director at Ruby Falls. “Over the years, the creativity to produce iconic sets and stories has grown beyond what we ever imagined we could host in just one location, and we expanded.”
Open from early October through early November, guests can explore the cursed town of Dread Hollow and navigate through three interactive nightmares with the price of admission. For those looking for even more haunted thrills, tickets to the escape rooms can be purchased individually.
“If you want to take a deeper dive into Dread Hollow lore, know this – each season builds on a twisted history, and our cast of new and returning characters brings this haunted realm to life,” says Josh Philpott, co-creative director of Dread Hollow. “And yes … there’s a good chance you might get wet – we’re all about incorporating all of your senses.”
From the creative partners and cast to the operations, IT, and marketing teams, producing Dread Hollow is a team effort. The creative team works on Dread Hollow year-round, with the vision for each season developing years in advance. The team will then spend months building sets, props, costumes, and special effects.
“All of the hard work is worth it when someone tells us they always plan their entire October schedule around when they are coming to Dread Hollow,” finishes Todd Patton, co-creative director of Dread Hollow. “And we love it when Dread Hollow gets to be the very first haunted attraction a guest has ever experienced. All the screams fuel our creativity and push us to do even more the next season.”
