As the Santa Clarita Valley heads into its second fall season without Lombardi’s Ranch, a family-owned Saugus farm is aiming to continue some of the ranch’s popular family traditions, and introduce a few of their own as well.

Monica and Jim Gilchrist, owners of Gilchrist Farm on Bouquet Canyon Road, are opening their doors to the community every weekend in October for the very first Gilchrist Farm Harvest Festival and Pumpkin Patch, with some attractions available during the week as well.

“We, like so many people in the community, grew up on Lombardi’s. We absolutely loved the traditions, and we’re very sad to see them go,” Monica Gilchrist said. “As we began to talk to people about the huge void that’s been left, we thought maybe we can pick up some small pieces of it, and as the planning started, the event began to grow and grow.”

What started out as a small project has now become a full-fledged festival featuring live entertainment, a straw bale maze, pony rides, a petting zoo, horse-drawn wagon rides, festival food, a children’s craft area and much more.

One of the primary reasons Gilchrist decided to expand the event was to give local nonprofits the opportunity to fundraise, which she noted many relied on at Lombardi’s Ranch every year.

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“We learned about all of the people that are so deeply impacted by the loss of Lombardi’s, in particular the nonprofit community,” Gilchrist said. “A great fundraising aspect (of the festival is) carrying on the Lombardi tradition of inviting local nonprofits to sell their baked goods and other products to raise money for their organizations.”

Visitors will also receive free admission to the straw bale maze with a donation of a canned food item for the SCV Food Pantry (click here for a list of items needed).

“We’re extremely excited about how our straw bale maze has turned out,” Gilchrist said. “It’s a fun adventure … and we’re really looking forward to supporting the Food Pantry with this endeavor.”

In addition to rows and rows of brightly colored pumpkins in a variety of shapes and sizes for sale, a professional photographer will also be onsite for mini photo sessions in the pumpkin patch.

“The pumpkin patch is turning out so beautiful,” Gilchrist said. “The pumpkins this year are absolutely gorgeous. We have white pumpkins, we have green pumpkins, and of course every size of orange pumpkins around.”

Other items for sale include a variety of fall decorations and hand-crafted products from local vendors — including the Gilchrists themselves, who are planning to offer their handmade goat’s milk soap.

Those interested in learning more about the animals at Gilchrist Farm can visit the petting zoo to meet pigs, ducks, chickens, goats and turkeys, or even watch a special goat milking demonstration.

“We’ll be offering a free goat milking demonstration every Saturday and Sunday at 9 a.m. to show off the whole concept of milking goats and family farming right here in Santa Clarita,” Gilchrist said. “All of our animals are onsite, they’re here year-round, and we are thrilled to share the farming aspects and help teach people about the connection between farm and table.”

Families can stop by the children’s craft area, where they can paint real horseshoes, decorate pumpkins, have their faces painted, and make a traditional doll out of burlap and fabric in fall colors.

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“A lot of (the festival) really is an enhancement of our current farm business,” Gilchrist said. “Here at Gilchrist Farm, we offer birthday parties, classes, a very robust summer camp, (and) lots of crafts and interactive things for children and families, and the harvest festival is a natural extension of all of those things.”

The Gilchrist Farm Harvest Festival and Pumpkin Patch is set to be open every weekend from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. between Oct. 1 and 31, with some attractions — like the pumpkin patch, straw bale maze, petting zoo, and farm store — open weekdays as well. Special “field trips” for children will also be offered Wednesday through Friday. 

“We’re really excited to be able to continue some of the local traditions, and additionally we’re thrilled to offer some of our own,” Gilchrist said. “Very much in the Lombardi tradition, we’ve staged the event in a way that there is no charge for parking, no charge for admission, no charge for the goat milking demonstration… and then you can pick and choose what you’d like from there.”

She continued, “We’re keeping everything else low cost… (There’s) so many fun activities, so much interactivity with animals, with crafts, with music, with community — (it’s) just a really great community event.”

Gilchrist Farm is located at 30116 Bouquet Canyon Road in Saugus. To find out more about the inaugural Gilchrist Farm Harvest Festival and Pumpkin Patch, click here, email info@gilchristfarm.com, or call (661) 645-2517.