The biggest kid in the South County is opening the farm he grew up on enjoying dirt clod wars and other simple fun for the entire month of October.
And if it goes as well as last year, by the time 10 p.m. rolls around on Halloween some 250,000 people will have visited the farm creating their own memories of using fruit as ammo and meandering through corn.
The 26th annual Dell’Osso Family Farm Pumpkin Maze hosted by Ron and Susan Dell’Osso opens this Saturday, Oct. 1, at 10 a.m. It is open daily after that until the last entry at 7 p.m. on Oct. 31.
The farm nestled between Interstate 5, the San Joaquin River, and River Islands at Lathrop is considered California’s largest ag attraction that isn’t the state fair or a county fair.
“We get people every year who’ve made it a family tradition to keep coming back,” said Susan Dell’Osso. “We even have those that came here as children bring their children here.”
Dell’Osso noted the corn maze and other attractions take place on the same farmland that Ron — who is now 66 years old — grew up on as a boy.
As Dell’Osso was preparing for the first month-long corn maze with several other attractions in 1997, his fellow farmers thought he was crazy. They doubted anyone would pay to go out to a firm.
“Even my mom thought he was nuts,” Susan Dell’Osso said.
Now that Dell’Osso Farm has soared past 4 million visitors and employs 450 people each season, no one is calling Dell’Osso crazy.
He’s also the only farmer who grows “ammo” — the small pumpkin-like gourds that are sold $8 for a bucket to load into pumpkin blasters that send them flying at speeds around 100 mph to try and dent various metal targets included junked cars.
Blasters idea inspired by Ron
Dell’Osso’s ‘worst’ Christmas ever
And while most other attractions such as the corn maze, railroad, tire pyramid climbing, and haunted house to name a few were inspired by his favorite childhood memories, there is one that wasn’t.
The pumpkin blasters that resemble bazookas are the result of a childhood disappointment.
His mom used JC Penney catalogues for her children to drop “hints” at what they might like to see under the Christmas tree each year. Typically, they circled six apiece and their mom would pick one.
As a 7 year-old, Ron circled only one item that he really, really wanted: A plastic machine gun that shot off plastic bullets while resting on a tri-pod.
Ron was more than crestfallen when he opened his present on Christmas morning and discovered his mother had gotten him a coat instead.
“It wasn’t that she was against guns,” Ron Dell’Osso recalled in an interview several years ago. “We had guns and my dad would take us hunting. It’s just that she didn’t think a young boy needed a make believe machine gun.”
Dell’Osso never forgot about the gift he never got.
Then he saw a pumpkin chucking competition carried on TV. That’s where participants used various devices to hurl regular sized pumpkins through the air.
But it had one drawback. People could watch but they couldn’t participate as they were forced to stay far away behind rope.
He thought there had to be a way people could fire off pumpkins for fun and do so safely.
So, after the fourth season of running the corn maze, Dell’Osso decided to head out to his shop to try his hand at fashioning a “machine gun” that could shoot pumpkins. The first prototype was fashioned out of PVC pipe. After four days he finally got one that used air pressure to fire a pumpkin.
It was a dud.
The pumpkins only went four to 10 feet.
He gave up — but just for about a week.
Dell’Osso went back to the shop and continued tinkering.
Then they hit pay dirt on the seventh prototype.
Since they no longer had pumpkins, they went to Costco and got a few cases of oranges.
Little did he know oranges due to being circular orbs and being basically the same size due to how they were packed and sorted were the perfect ammo.
From his shop near the two landmark brick silos at Dell’Osso Farms, they watched as the oranges were propelled 400 plus feet with no problem at all. Fine tuning it allowed then to send an orange from the silos clear across nearby Interstate 5.
He enlisted the help of Butch (a gentleman who has since passed away) to fabricate the devices out of sheet metal and other parts.
The destructive power of flying pumpkins is evidenced by the targets that guests shoot at. Each year they bring in vehicles that don’t run but otherwise are in near perfect condition in terms of the body. On the first day of each season, the windows go first. Then it’s open season on the rest of the body. By the time Oct. 31 rolls around it is next to impossible to determine what make and model may of the vehicles are given they are shot up that much.
Two new attractions
New this year are Tiny Town and Slide Hill — attractions that are included with the price of admission.
They join more than two dozen other attractions from carousel that once graced Coney Island and a haunted house to train rides, children’s shows, mini golf and more.
There is also a massive pumpkin patch — arguably the largest in the area — where kids of all ages search for the perfect pumpkin.
In addition to the food court, there is a country store with fresh baked goods such as pies and apple spice doughnuts, as well as fudge, cookies, and other treats.
And to top off the perfect date night there’s Cider Hill. It features craft beers, hard cider and homemade pizza.
Most of the attractions are included with admission. The maze opens at noon Mondays through Fridays and at 10 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday. The last admission is 7 p.m. nightly while attractions start closing at 8 p.m.
Admission is $18.95 Monday through Thursday, $24.95 Friday, and $27.95 on Saturday as well as Sunday. Children 2 and under are free. Season passes are $69.95. Parking is free.
Susan Dell’Osso said the opening weekend — all attractions will be open — as well as weekdays are the best time to go for locals as the crowds are smaller and the Bay Area attendees haven’t started packing the farm.
For more information go to pumpkinmaze.com.
To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com
