Toluca Lake Pumpkin Festival: 2019 Review
Toluca Lake Pumpkin Festival, Toluca Lake, CA
On the intersection of Riverside Drive and Cahuenga Boulevard, right in the Toluca Lake community of Los Angeles, just south of Burbank, is a artistically-minded, family-friendly Halloween attraction with a gem of a surprise for haunt aficionados. The Toluca Lake Pumpkin Festival is a cozy pumpkin patch (really a place that sells pumpkin; not a literal patch) that includes a modest petting zoo and a surprisingly charming haunted maze that is kid-friendly by day but features some more frights by night. I stumbled upon this venue a few weeks ago when I drove by and saw signage advertising the attraction. Last week, after original plans fell through, I stopped by to check out what this seasonal location had to offer.
It’s not a real pumpkin patch with vine-ripened gourds, but the pumpkin patch at the Toluca Lake Pumpkin Festival is charming regardless.
The pumpkin patch features a fair selection of pumpkins of all sizes and varieties, scattered across the majority of the property. The pricing is a little more than one would pay at a commercial establishment, but they're not terrible for the offering of a small business. The unique and defining aspect of this pumpkin patch, however, are the series of board murals depicting illustrations of a variety of franchises and intellectual properties, ranging from Sesame Street to all things Disney. These appear to be geared toward photo ops, though ironically, nearby signs around the patch warn that photos are not allowed without purchase of something on property. Fortunately, there seems to be zero enforcement of the rule, and plenty of people snap photos of themselves and the grounds without issue.
On the Riverside Drive side of the lot, a modest petting zoo holds a small selection of farm animals for guests to feed and pet. There are some goats and pigs lingering about within a chainlink pen. This isn't the most flattering part of the Toluca Lake Pumpkin Festival, as the enclosure is by no means spacious and feels rather spartan. But then again, it is not the main attraction of this facility.
A petting zoo is also available to guests who want to interact with the animals.
That distinction goes to the haunted maze located on the north side of the property. It's filled with a variety of static and animatronic figures and puppets, scattered through a hay-lined walk-through that keeps guests guessing as to which characters are real and human, and which are not. The answer by day is: no one. Before 7:00pm, the maze is devoid of talent, and the only [soft] scares come from motion activated movements. After 7:00, though, things get a little more suspenseful, as several scareactors populate this haunted maze to add some startle scares into the equation.
Some of the theming inside the haunted maze.
The result is a bit of a game of "guess the real monster." Similar to the Wax Museum maze in California Great America's Haunt, there's a bit of a psych out trying to determine which characters might actually lash out. Is it the skeleton creature? Or the mad doctor or insane criminal about to get the electric chair? How about Gandalf the White, or Alien, or Michael Myers, or a werewolf, or alien, or bloody cowboy? Any number of these might offer the startle!
What's even more impressive is that all the figures and animatronics are home made by local artists to support the maze and pumpkin patch. Like the paintings, the hand-crafted nature of the haunted maze adds a lot of allure to haunt, giving it a unique specialty that is beyond buying some off-the-shelf products to scatter throughout a maze. I found the whole maze to be surprisingly cute, and I was intrigued to learn of the artisan inspirations of the contributors to the Toluca Lake Pumpkin Festival.
The Toluca Lake Pumpkin Festival may not look like much, but what’s inside (at least the haunted maze) is what matters!
The Toluca Lake Pumpkin Festival is located at 10601 Riverside Dr., North Hollywood, CA 91602, and is open daily and nightly, now through Halloween. Parking is free and available on site, though there are only about a dozen spaces. It can be tricky navigating the lot. There is no charge for admission, but the haunted maze cost $6 per person, and the petting zoo is an upcharge as well. Still, the place is kind of adorable in its odd, unexpected, copyright-disregarding charm. And the maze is surprisingly entertaining. So go check it out if you're in the area! You'll find this place has more than what's expected!
Architect. Photographer. Disney nerd. Haunt enthusiast. Travel bugged. Concert fiend. Asian.
