On the last day of October, a kettle of apple butter goes on the fire at Lawrence Orchards on Smeltzer Road around 7:30 in the morning. It comes off between 2 and 3 p.m. Admission is free, and Schmidt's Sausage Truck parks there from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. That same evening, Caledonia trick-or-treat runs 5:30 to 7 p.m. A few hours later, the Dead Woods on Lyons Road holds its Halloween Bash.
Halloween looks like the end of the season. It isn't. Outside the city of Marion, fall winds down in stages over about two weeks. The free pumpkin patch in Waldo closes first, on Oct. 25. The orchard keeps its fall program going until a pruning workshop on Nov. 7. Each place keeps its own calendar, and they're spread across different corners of the county, so the order they close in matters more than the Halloween date everyone plans around.
The order things close
Today is Oct. 6, so four Saturdays are left. This is when each recurring fall stop wraps up:
| Last date | What closes | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Sun., Oct. 25 | Free weekend pumpkin patch at The Farm at Locust Creek | 2700 Prospect Mt. Vernon Rd. E., Waldo |
| Sun., Oct. 25 | LaRue's Monster Mash, 4 to 6 p.m. | LaRue Community Center, 350 N. High St. |
| Sat., Oct. 31 | Last Harvest Saturday, Apple Butter and Horseradish Day | Lawrence Orchards, 2634 Smeltzer Rd., Marion |
| Fri., Nov. 6 | Final night of the Dead Woods Haunted Trail | 3550 Lyons Rd., Caledonia |
| Sat., Nov. 7 | Annual Fruit Tree Workshop, 10 a.m. | Lawrence Orchards pavilion |
The two places that close first are the farthest apart. Locust Creek's patch is out past Waldo, and the Monster Mash is up in LaRue, at the other end of the county. Both finish the same Sunday. Everything after that is closer to Caledonia and the Smeltzer Road side of Marion.
Waldo's patch goes first
The Farm at Locust Creek runs its pumpkin patch on weekends from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. through Oct. 25. Admission is free, and there are pumpkins, designer gourds, free games, photo setups and a gift shop. The business says it started in a home garage in 2013 and later grew onto a 26-acre homestead.
The patch isn't the only thing the farm sells, which is why its last day matters. Locust Creek also sells pumpkin porch-scape packages with delivery and setup, and it says it has more than 3,000 Christmas trees in the ground. The studio side, Locust Creek Design, makes home décor, furniture, custom orders, leather earrings and bags made from upcycled fabric. Its site says the studio is open during pumpkin season by chance or by appointment. Once the patch closes, the easiest time to walk in without an appointment goes with it.
That leaves three weekends. On Thursdays this month, Waldo also has Bingo with Bud at Oscar's, 306 S. Marion St., from 7 to 10 p.m. on Oct. 8, 15, 22 and 29.
Lawrence Orchards spaces its Saturdays out
Lawrence Orchards is family-run and grows 26 apple varieties. It sells fresh-pressed cider with no preservatives, plus jams, local honey and maple products. In fall the market is open Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. George Lawrence and his wife, Vickie, own it. In 2021, George told the Marion Star that his father, John, was the orchard's second generation.
Harvest Saturdays run from late August to late October. Each one left this year has a different theme, so a family can come back every week without repeating:
- Oct. 10, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.: America 250 patriotic pumpkin carving. Pumpkins, tools and stencils are provided, artist Megan Benninger gives demonstrations, and Wagner's Pork Concessions is on site. Sign-ups are taken in the market.
- Oct. 17, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.: Apple Tasting Day, with late-season apples to sample and The Fork in the Road food truck from Kenton.
- Oct. 24, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.: A kids' Treasure Hunt that follows clues through the orchard, with Fire & Fried Egg Rolls serving food.
- Oct. 31, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.: Apple Butter and Horseradish Day, free admission.
The orchard posts the Halloween schedule on its own festival page:
"Come help us stir the kettle of applebutter. It will go on the fire about 7:30am and we will take the finished product between 2-3:00."
The horseradish gets ground in the pavilion and is ready by 9:30 a.m. The county tourism listing for this day gives a different date and closing time, so go by the orchard's own page.
The festivals end on Halloween, but the orchard's fall doesn't. The annual Fruit Tree Workshop is Nov. 7 at 10 a.m. in the pavilion, with hot spiced cider in the market first. The market stays open through Christmas.
Caledonia's Saturday on Oct. 17
The orchard runs on a weekly schedule. Caledonia puts most of its October into two Saturdays, and the first is the longest day out on the back roads this month. Here's the order:
- 9 a.m. to noon: Cars & Coffee at Doughbox, 429 S. Water St. It's free. Doughbox serves handmade pizzas, sandwiches, burgers, wings, monkey bread and Riverside Ice Cream. Online listings disagree on its regular hours, so call (419) 845-3355 before planning a weeknight dinner around it.
- 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.: Apple Tasting Day at Lawrence Orchards, if you want to fit it in between the two car events.
- 1 to 5 p.m.: The Fall Cruise-In presented by The Muffler Center, 125 E. Marion St. It's free, with classic and custom vehicles, food trucks, door prizes and gift bags for the first 50 cars. The host shop is on State Route 309. The cruise-in itself is downtown.
- 8 to 11:30 p.m.: The Dead Woods Haunted Trail, 3550 Lyons Rd.
If you're bringing a car, you could spend the whole day without leaving the village. The morning event is at a pizza shop on South Water Street, and the afternoon one is a short drive away on East Marion Street.
Oct. 24 and 25, the last full weekend
The next Saturday is the last one before the early closings. Fall Farm Fun takes over the Caledonia Public Square, 110 E. Marion St., from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. There's pumpkin bowling, face painting, a cookie walk, craft vendors and prizes, with support from local businesses and village residents. It overlaps the Treasure Hunt at Lawrence Orchards, which runs 11 to 2.
Sunday is the last day of Locust Creek's patch. At 4 p.m. the same day, the LaRue Monster Mash starts at the community center on North High Street. It's free, with music, dancing, food, treats and costume prizes until 6 p.m.
Two other events earlier in that stretch don't fit the Saturday pattern. On Sunday, Oct. 18, The White Magnolia Event Barn at 700 Mount Olive Agosta Rd. in New Bloomington holds its Magnolia Fall Fest from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. On Wednesday, Oct. 21, at 5 p.m., there's a Fall Foliage Hike at Myers Woods Nature Preserve, 3965 Wyandot-Marion Rd., Harpster.
Halloween, and the Dead Woods' last week
Oct. 31 is a Saturday this year, so the apple butter, trick-or-treat and a full haunted-trail night all land on one day. Caledonia trick-or-treat runs 5:30 to 7 p.m. New Bloomington's runs 5:30 to 6:30 p.m., and the City of Marion's runs 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. The county tourism bureau hasn't posted 2026 hours yet for Prospect, LaRue, Green Camp, Waldo or Morral. Last year's pages for those villages still show 2025 times, which may not hold this year.
The Dead Woods keeps going a week past Halloween. Bryan and Melinda McCartney run the trail on property owned by Bryan's parents, Dave and Tammy Sharp, according to a 2025 Marion Star story. The trail opened to the public in 2017, and the paper called 2025 its ninth season, so this fall would be its tenth if it has run every year.
The 2026 listing gives the details. It's open Fridays 8 to 11 p.m. and Saturdays 8 to 11:30 p.m. Admission is $20, or $30 for a Fast Pass. It's cash only, and tickets are sold only at the trail. The last night is Friday, Nov. 6. The next morning, the Fruit Tree Workshop starts at 10 a.m. on Smeltzer Road, and that's the last scheduled event of the county's fall season.
Josh Cooper and the MORE Ohio Team keep up with what's happening in Caledonia, Waldo, LaRue and the other villages around Marion County. If you know someone thinking about a move to rural Marion County, we're happy to talk with them about these villages. Work With Us.
