Pumpkins, mazes, and hayrides, oh my! Fall has officially arrived in Spokane, and already there’s so much time to do, and so little time to do it in (thanks, daylight saving time). So, grab the kids, pull out the flannel, and get ready to make the most of the season with a lineup of autumn adventures the whole family will want to make time for.
Autumn Adventures Abound at Riverfront Park in Spokane
As autumn arrives to envelop downtown Spokane in its cozy comfort, Riverfront Park transforms into a playground of color and crisp air. The Numerica SkyRide offers a bird’s-eye view of the festive foliage, carrying riders over 200 feet above the falls for a front-row seat to the season’s changing colors. Down below, the Numerica Skate Ribbon and The Looff Carousel keep the fun going, with skaters circling the ribbon in the cool fall air and riders climbing aboard the carousel’s hand-carved horses for a spin through history. For a quieter moment, the Big Red Wagon makes for the perfect fall photo, especially once the leaves start piling up around it.
To celebrate the season, Riverfront Park also hosts WSECU Fall Fest each year at the beginning of October; a free, family-friendly event presented in partnership by River Park Square, Riverfront Park, and Downtown Spokane Partnership. Families can enjoy an urban pumpkin patch, pumpkin decorating, horse-drawn carriage rides, a petting zoo, live music, and face painting, making it easy to turn a regular park visit into a full day of fall festivities.
Family Tradition Takes Root at Green Bluff Farms
Few fall traditions capture the season’s spirit quite like stepping into a pumpkin patch, where harvest season comes to life among colorful fields and family memories in the making. At Beck’s Harvest House in Colbert, kids can wander a colorful patch packed with gourds of every size, snack on their world-famous pumpkin donuts, and try their luck getting through the farm’s sprawling corn maze. A short drive away, Knapp’s U-Pick Farm keeps things playful with a farmyard bounce house, pony rides, and even more off-the-wall fall fun like pumpkin bowling and a punching pumpkins maze race.
Eleven Acres Farm keeps things simple and sweet with a sprawling U-pick patch where pumpkins range from tiny to towering, perfect for letting kids pick out their own. And at High Country Orchard, families can pick their own pumpkins before grabbing a caramel apple and browsing a lineup of local craft vendors, all set against the farm’s barnyard festivities.
Experience Autumn in Bloom at the John A. Finch Arboretum in Spokane
For a family fall adventure wrapped in golden light, the John A. Finch Arboretum provides the perfect backdrop, with 65 acres of wooded hills and over 2,000 trees and shrubs representing more than 600 species from around the world. As autumn frames the arboretum’s Garden Springs Creek in shifting shades of bronze, crimson, and amber, the grounds turn into one of Spokane’s favorite spots for golden hour photo-ops.
The fun peaks each October with the free Fall Leaf Festival, where kids can play in the leaves, snap family photos with the resident scarecrow, and explore hands-on activities and local vendors, rain or shine. Whether you’re there for a quiet stroll or the festival’s full lineup of family fun, Finch Arboretum makes autumn a season worth stepping outside for.
Farmers Markets Offer a Feast of Family Fun in Fall
As the heart of the harvest, Spokane farmers markets steal the spotlight, bringing growers, makers, and neighbors together in a celebration of the season. These community gatherings are a feast for the senses, where families can marvel at mountains of massive orange pumpkins, browse booths brimming with artists’ crafts and homemade goods.
The Millwood Farmers Market carries the season all the way into mid-October, bringing together local farmers, artisans, and food vendors for a tight-knit market experience that feels just as comfy and cozy as the season itself. Meanwhile, the Thursday Market fills the South Perry neighborhood with fresh, locally grown food and handcrafted goods every Thursday afternoon starting from May until October, giving small farmers and local artisans a place to sustain their craft and their community. No matter which Spokane farmers market you choose to visit, each one promises an engaging environment where the entire family can meet local artisans, enjoy the last of the season’s sunshine, and return home with bags of seasonal bounty.
Fall Fun is Frightfully Delightful for Families in Spokane
Of course, it wouldn’t be fall without a little fright mixed in, and there’s no shortage of scary good times in Spokane during spooky season. Beyond the usual haunted houses, the city’s haunted walking tours offer a different kind of scare, leading locals past the ghosts, graveyards, and haunted mansions tucked throughout downtown. The Spokane Public Library has mapped out a self-guided route past the city’s spookiest spots, while local historian and “ghostologist” Chet Caskey hosts his own fair share of haunted happenings.
For families who consider a shared scream a bonding activity, Scarywood delivers plenty of chances to hold onto each other, transforming Silverwood into something far more sinister once the sun goes down. Five haunted attractions, including the all-new Nightmares maze, join 10 scare zones packed with roaming monsters and most of the park’s signature rides running in the dark, earning the event a spot on Travel Channel’s “Halloween’s Scariest Thrills.”
From Green Bluff orchards to Riverfront Park’s colorful trees and every cozy cider stop in between, there’s no shortage of ways to fill an autumn calendar in Spokane. And if the season always seems to fly by a little too fast, that’s all the more reason to get outside and make time for a few fall adventures before the leaves disappear for another year.
