Where to Get a Pumpkin in San Francisco and the Bay Area

Most of you are not going to the Half Moon Bay Pumpkin Festival this weekend. Most of you still want a jack-o-lantern on your porch this Halloween season. There are several old-school, total Halloween-spirit pumpkin patches in San Francisco and the greater Bay Area where you can buy a carving pumpkin and jack-o-lantern that shit the fuck out. Some of these San Francisco pumpkin patches even offer hay rides and all the autumnal trappings of a pumpkin farm in rural American flyover country. There are some really dope and fun Bay Area pumpkin patches, and unlike Christmas trees the pumpkins are for sale at reasonable, affordable, throwaway prices.

Hours and locations of these pumpkin patches in San Francisco and the Bay Area are listed below. And if we missed any good pumpkin patches, make sure we get gourd on the it in the Comments section below!

WHERE TO BUY PUMPKINS IN SAN FRANCISCO

Clancy’s Pumpkin Patch (Inner Sunset)

It’s an all-out pumpkin blitz at Clancy’s Pumpkin Patch, tucked away at 7th Ave. & Lawton St. (along the 43-Masonic route) in the Inner Sunset. The tiny park there is adorable and Clancy’s busts out fantastic, over-the-top pumpkin decorations everywhere to create an immersive pumpkin experience that feels like New England or the Midwest. Even the big, fat, juicy pumpkins are super-affordable and they also have live turkeys here. (1620 7th Ave., open 9 a.m-9 p.m. every day through Halloween)

Pomeroy Pumpkin Patch (Lake Merced)

This is a really sweet program that benefits kids and adults with developmental disabilities. The Pomeroy Recreation & Rehabilitation Center is selling pumpkins at the center on most days. Hours are limited and this place is hard to get to but their pumpkins are crazy-cheap and it’s for a great cause. (207 Skyline Blvd., open 10 a.m-5 p.m. Mon.-Sat. through Halloween)

Safeway, Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods (Everywhere)

Your neighborhood big-box (or medium-box) chain retail grocery outlet probably has whole carving pumpkins for sale. Safeway’s pumpkins are very cheap, Whole Foods’ and Trader Joe’s are way more expensive. For reasons that should be obvious. (Located everywhere, open more or less constantly)

WHERE TO BUY PUMPKINS IN OAKLAND AND THE EAST BAY

Piedmont Pumpkin Patch  (Oakland)

Nothing fancy, but a classic old-style pumpkin patch in the middle of Oakland. With a modest haunted house! (4414 Piedmont Ave., open 9 a.m-9 p.m. every day through Halloween)

Speer Family Farms (Alameda)

This one has farm animals. a bouncy slide, a hay maze and totally affordable pumpkins. (2153 Ferry Point, open 10 a.m.-10 p.m. every day through Halloween)

Perry Family Farms (Fremont)

Fremont is a haul, but you can tour a huge, actual pumpkin farm, get tractor rides and admire the agriculture scene for hours. (34600 Ardenwood Blvd, open 12 p.m.-7 p.m. Monday-Friday and 9 a.m.-7 p.m. with $1 admission Saturday-Sunday through Halloween)

Clayton Valley Pumpkin Farm (Clayton)

A great spot for kids, this place has hay mazes and trains and all manner of good, clean autumnal fun to enhance your pumpkin-buying. (1060 Pine Lane, open 9 a.m.-8 p.m. every day through Halloween)

WHERE TO BUY PUMPKINS IN THE PENINSULA

Grandpa Kevin’s Pumpkin Patch (Daly City)

Grandpa Kevin’s is a parking lot pumpkin operation in the Serramonte Shopping Center between the Target and the Dick’s Sporting Goods. (266-550 Serramonte Blvd.)