There’s something about fall that gets me every year. The mornings turn crisp, everything smells like cinnamon and woodsmoke, and suddenly every weekend feels like it’s made for getting outside. The problem isn’t a lack of things to do around Portland. It’s that the season moves fast, and if you’re not paying attention, half of it slips by before you’ve made it to a single one.
So, here’s what I’ve got lined up. A few old favorites, a couple I’m excited to try myself. Take your pick.
The MAiZE at The Pumpkin Patch
📍 The MAiZE at The Pumpkin Patch, 16511 NW Gillihan Rd, Sauvie Island
🗓️ September 5 through October 31, 2026
🕛 Fridays through Mondays 10am–5pm in September, then daily 10am–5pm in October. Last tickets sell at 5pm and the field clears at six.
🎫 $10, free for kids under 5, or $25 for a season pass
This is Portland’s original corn maze, and it’s spent 28 years getting people lost. It covers eight acres with almost two miles of pathways cut through the corn, split into two halves that each start and end at the big red-and-white pole tent where there’s seating and cover. Admission is the same whether you walk one half or both. Give yourself 45 minutes to an hour to solve it.
Wear boots — this is Oregon, and the field does what Oregon fields do. Pets aren’t allowed in the maze anymore, so leave the dog at home. It’s cut to a new theme every year, so even if you did it last fall it’s a different puzzle.
Bella Organic Pumpkin Patch & Corn Maze
📍 Bella Organic Pumpkin Patch & Winery, 16205 NW Gillihan Rd, Portland (Sauvie Island)
🗓️ Corn maze August 29 through October 31, 2026. The haunted maze opens Saturday, September 26 and runs Friday and Saturday nights through October, with the last haunt on October 30.
🕛 Corn maze daily 9am–5pm through September 25, then 9am–6pm Sunday to Thursday and 9am–10pm Friday and Saturday. The haunted maze runs 7pm–10pm, last entry at ten sharp.
🎫 Corn maze $10 weekdays, $12 on October weekends, free under 5. Haunted maze $35–$45 depending on the night. An unlimited activity bracelet is $25, or $30 with the regular maze included.
Seven acres of corn with about 2.7 miles of pathways, and it takes most people an hour to get out. Inside there’s a Clue-inspired game to play as you go, and trivia to argue over with a hot cup of apple cider once you’re out. The rest of the farm runs a cow train, a grain train, a hay maze, duck races where you keep the plastic duck, and a petting zoo. Bella’s courtyard pours wine, hard cider and Hopworks beer on tap.
Bring cash — every activity, ticket and outside booth is cash only, and cards only work in the farm store. Backpacks and large bags aren’t allowed on the farm at all, so leave them in the car. Dogs are welcome on a leash in the regular maze but never the haunted one, and if you’d rather not queue, avoid the two middle weekends of October.
Plumper Pumpkin Patch & Tree Farm
📍 Plumper Pumpkin Patch & Tree Farm, 11435 NW Old Cornelius Pass Rd, Portland
🗓️ September 19 through November 1, 2026
🕛 Wednesday through Sunday, 9am–5:30pm. Closed Monday and Tuesday.
🎫 $17 online in advance through September 13, $19 at the gate, or $27 for a season pass. Pumpkin and apple cannons are $5 a shot on top of admission.
Sixty-five acres of what used to be a century dairy farm, rolling hills with views out over the Tualatin Valley. Admission covers the hayrides, the corn maze, the animals, the slides, the ball zone and the fallow field, which gets rebuilt from scratch each year with a straw pyramid in it. The two pumpkin cannons run on compressed air and will put a pumpkin 400 feet downrange at old cars set out as targets. The farm kitchen does pumpkin donuts, caramel apples and roasted corn, and the Plumper Tavern pours cider, beer and wine slushies.
Only certain registers take cash, so bring a card. Pony rides are October weekends only and the pig races run every hour on weekends, which is worth timing your visit around if you’ve got kids. Parking is free and the farm is dog friendly.
Oaks Park Oktoberfest
📍 Oaks Amusement Park, 7805 SE Oaks Park Way, Portland
🗓️ September 25–27, 2026
🕛 Hours for 2026 aren’t posted yet — check the event page.
🎫 Tickets aren’t on sale yet; pricing goes up on the event page.
Three days of Portland’s hometown Oktoberfest down on the river. Two stages of oompah bands and traditional dancers, Paulaner beer back by popular demand alongside local cider and wine, live cooking demonstrations, and the wiener dog races — there’s an entry form if your dachshund fancies its chances. There’s a Kinderplatz for the little ones, a vendor village of craft and artisan sellers, and the park’s own rides, roller skating and mini golf running the whole time.
Onsite parking is limited and costs $4 at the meters. The park is cashless — cards and mobile pay only, with reverse ATMs on site to load cash onto a prepaid card if you need to. New this year, ride bracelets include gate admission, which makes them the better buy if anyone in your group is going near the midway.
Bethany Village Oktoberfest
📍 Bethany Village, 15325 NW Central Dr, Portland
🗓️ Saturday, September 12, 2026
🕛 1pm to 5pm
🎫 See the event page for current pricing.
Four hours of lederhosen, dirndls and a large beer tent in the middle of Bethany Village. Z Musikmakers play — a local Oktoberfest band made up of family members who’ve been at it more than 40 years — with Portland Dance Center taking the 3:15 intermission and the annual steinholding competition closing things out at 4:45. Altengartz German Bratwurst and the Beezneez food truck handle the eating, and Lazy Days/Bethany Public House and Golden Valley Brewery pour the beer. Dozens of local sellers set up alongside, everything from Rosas Churros to Splinter Alley Axe Throwing.
The Bethany Athletic Club booth runs a bounce house, which makes this an easy one with small kids in tow. Several village businesses run discounts you can only claim in person at their booth on the day, so it’s worth a lap before you settle in.
Bauman’s Harvest Festival
📍 Bauman’s Farm & Garden, 12989 Howell Prairie Rd NE, Gervais
🗓️ September 19 through October 31, 2026. Closed Mondays.
🕛 2026 hours aren’t posted yet — check the event page.
🎫 2026 pricing isn’t posted yet — check the event page.
The farm has been going since 1895, and the harvest festival has run for 38 of those years. There are more than 30 activities on the ground: a dark maze of twists and tunnels that’s taken some people an hour, a three-acre corn maze, a giant hay pyramid with slides down it, an apple cannon that detonates apples against targets, the bug train, two jumping pillows, a bin of hazelnuts instead of a ball pit, and a new low rope course with bridges and climbing nets. They press their own apple cider on site, and the apple cider donuts are the thing people drive back for.
It’s the longest drive on this list, out in Gervais, so make a day of it rather than a stop. A good number of the activities — the obstacle course, rope course, hay pyramid, pumpkin hill, apple cannon — run weekends only, so a weekday visit is quieter but there’s less to do. Parking is free and plentiful, and they’re dog friendly.
The Pumpkin Patch on Sauvie Island
📍 The Pumpkin Patch, 16511 NW Gillihan Rd, Portland (Sauvie Island)
🗓️ Open daily June through October 2026, with hayrides running daily through October
🕛 9am–5pm June through September, then 10am–6pm in October
🎫 See the event page for current pricing.
The original Sauvie Island pumpkin patch, going since 1967 — more than 55 years of it now. The farm works 1,500 acres and grows over 60 different fruits and vegetables, so the market is stocked well past pumpkins. There’s an animal barn dating to 1929, hayrides every day through October, and you pick your pumpkin straight off the vine out in the field rather than pulling it out of a bin.
It’s the same road as Bella Organic and the MAiZE, so you can knock out two in one trip to the island. They also put free car shows on out at the farm — there’s a malaise car show on Saturday, September 12.
Woodstock Farmers Market
📍 Woodstock Farmers Market, 4600 SE Woodstock Blvd, Portland
🗓️ Sundays through October 25, 2026
🕛 10am–2pm
🎫 See the event page for current pricing.
A neighborhood market that runs every Sunday morning right through the end of October. Kiyokawa Family Orchards comes down from Hood River with over 120 varieties of apples, pears, cherries and Asian pears, and this is the stretch of the year they’re worth the trip for on their own. Mini Munks make hot mini donuts on the spot with a donut robot. There’s live music every weekend, a community booth that changes hands week to week, and cooking demonstrations where the chef gets a stipend to shop the market for their own ingredients first.
Kids get a free passport and earn prizes for finishing weekly activities, which buys you a bit of unhurried shopping. Service animals only at this one, so the dog stays home. SNAP shoppers get up to $20 a week matched through Double Up Food Bucks.
That’s the list I’d hand a friend if they asked what’s worth doing this fall around Portland. Some of these you’ve probably driven past a hundred times without stopping. This is the year you stop.
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