In 1941, Ray and Thora Schnepf spent their honeymoon in a shack on a square mile of desert their family had just bought for $25 an acre. That shack stood where Schnepf Elementary School is now, off Gary Road, south of today's farm. The 640 acres Mark Schnepf's grandfather bought that year, while he was still farming 40 acres in what is now downtown Mesa, became the start of a Queen Creek name that every family in town knows by October.
Eighty-five years on, the farm is in the middle of its most expensive Pumpkin & Chili Party so far. The new rides get the headlines. The more interesting question is why there is still a farm here to hold the party at all, and the answer runs straight through the hayrides and the chili.
A Farm That Got Smaller on Purpose
As the Schnepfs told the Queen Creek Tribune, the operation at its peak farmed more than 5,000 acres around Queen Creek, about 8 square miles, and took three harvests a year off that ground. The crops were cotton during the World War II boom, then specialty potatoes for chips, winter vegetables, durum wheat for pasta, grapes, peaches and apricots. Ray liked to experiment. He once planted 80 acres of pistachio trees that never produced a single nut, and those trees now get burned in the farm's bonfires.
The farm today covers about 250 acres, the smallest it has ever been. Over the years the family sold parcels for a Circle K, a QuikTrip and the Villages at Schnepf Farms. Mark Schnepf told the Tribune there are no plans to sell more, because the family means to keep growing the agritainment business.
That shrinking had a cause. In the 1970s and 1980s, interest rates hit 20 percent and the Russian grain embargo shut off exports to the Soviet Union, and the Schnepfs scaled back their acreage while they kept farming the traditional way. Mark, the youngest of three sons, took over the operation after he graduated from Arizona State University in 1983, right in the middle of those years.
From a Roadside Stand to 100,000 Visitors
The pivot started small. Carrie Schnepf, a Phoenix TV newscaster who grew up in a landscaping family, married Mark in 1991. She began selling trees and opened a roadside stand on Rittenhouse Road that sold produce two or three months a year, then added peach jam and other goods. The country store and bakery stand on that same spot today.
The farm held one of its first big events, the Potato Festival, in 1994, and by the late 1990s it was in agritainment full time. The Schnepfs say they coined that word. Mark describes the change this way:
"At first, we were just trying to make a living, then we began to understand the importance people had in coming to the farm."
Here is the scale of that business now. According to the Schnepfs, the Pumpkin & Chili Party draws more than 100,000 people during its October run. On top of that come about 25,000 schoolchildren on field trips in the same month and the 50 to 60 couples who marry at the farm's wedding venues. A family that once needed 5,000 acres and three harvests a year now keeps 250 acres working largely by bringing people onto the land. That connection explains this year's investment.
What the 85th Season Added
Carrie Schnepf put the 2026 spending in historical terms: "This year's investment is about honoring our history while creating an entirely new level of fun for the families who visit us." The Tribune calls it the biggest investment the farm has made in its signature October event. According to the Queen Creek Independent, the additions are three new rides, two classic rides and more food.
- Barnyard Stampede, a roller coaster imported from Italy, according to AZFamily.
- The Peach Pit, which the Independent describes as a drop tower.
- The Drop, which AZFamily lists as another new ride with a 40-foot drop.
- A 100-foot slide, called the Schnepf Big Slide by the Independent and the Schnepf Giant Slide by AZFamily.
- Barnstormers, which local coverage lists as a classic addition and the farm's attraction page labels "NEW."
- A teacup-style ride, listed by the Independent as the Coffee Cup Swirl and by AZFamily as the Farmers Daughter Coffee Cup Twirl.
A Tribune photo shows Carrie and Mark in front of the Barnyard Stampede and The Peach Pit. Those two rides are the 85th-season additions most likely to set the length of your wait in line.
Planning a Visit Before Oct. 31
The party runs Oct. 1 through Oct. 31, open Wednesday through Sunday. As of today, Oct. 10, four weekends remain, and the season closes on Saturday, Oct. 31. These are the hours listed on the official ticketing page:
| Day | Hours |
|---|---|
| Wednesday | 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. |
| Thursday | Noon to 9 p.m. |
| Friday | Noon to 10 p.m. |
| Saturday | 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. |
| Sunday | 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. |
The Schnepf Farms homepage lists a 10 a.m. Friday opening, so it's best to confirm before planning a Friday morning visit. General admission is $28.95 per person, and children 2 and under get in free. Admission doesn't cover the train, and food, pumpkins and train rides cost extra. Parking is free. In the farm's words, "We don't charge for parking onsite."
The farm's own address is 24810 S. Rittenhouse Road, Queen Creek, AZ 85142. Some local news stories print it as E. Rittenhouse Road, so the farm's version is the one to enter in your map app.
After the Pumpkins Come Down
The roadside stand that started all this still runs on its own schedule. The country store and bakery are open Thursday through Sunday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., and the farm's calendar lists free entry on Farm & Bakery days. That makes November a quieter time to visit than October, with no admission ticket needed.
Christmas at Schnepf Farms opens Nov. 27 and runs Thursday through Sunday until Dec. 27. It's open every night from Dec. 21 to Dec. 27, closed Christmas Day, and general admission hours are 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Tickets run $19.95 to $27.95 per person, children 2 and under are free, and season passes start at $95.95 per person. The lineup includes the Illumination Express, ice skating, Santa and reindeer hayrides, Santa Claus Lane, bonfires, snow-globe mini golf and a carousel. Those bonfires are presumably where some of Ray's old pistachio wood ends up.
The Next Piece Is on Riggs Road
Once the October crowds leave, the Schnepfs plan to turn to a 125-room hotel with a boutique farm theme on Riggs Road, next to the Circle K at the southeast end of their property. Carrie told the Tribune it will include retail and restaurants. Mark compared the format to Disneyland and the Downtown Disney District in Anaheim, California, and said groundbreaking is not expected until the end of 2027. Our research did not turn up a town filing or public hearing for the project, so for now the hotel is a stated plan, not a construction schedule.
The plan fits a pattern that began on Rittenhouse Road in the early 1990s. A family that sold parcels to keep going now wants to add overnight guests to the land it is keeping, and Mark said all four of the Schnepf children support the farm's future, including the ones who don't work there.
Places like Schnepf Farms shape what daily life feels like in Queen Creek's southeast corner, from Rittenhouse Road traffic in October to plans for what comes next along Riggs Road. If you'd like to talk about how landmarks like this fit into your plans in Queen Creek, Kim Weber is glad to share what she's seeing locally. Let's Connect.
