74-year-old’s pumpkin farm brings in $2 million a year, in just 7 weeks

Thirty years ago, when Kelly Schultz announced plans to start a pumpkin farm, “everyone laughed at me,” he says. Schultz, a second-generation antiques dealer, had no farming experience when he purchased a small farm in Clarence, New York, in 1993.

No one thinks he’s out of breath now.

Schultz, 74, owns and operates The Great Pumpkin Farm, a seasonal attraction located about 15 miles northeast of Buffalo. which attracts more than 100,000 visitors each fall.

The Great Pumpkin Farm generated $2 million in annual revenue in 2025, according to documents reviewed by CNBC Make It — and it’s only open seven weeks a year.

This year, the farm is open to visitors from September 19 to October 31, and they don’t just come to buy pumpkins. With a $20 weekend admission ticket, fall enthusiasts can ride the farm’s pumpkin-themed train, explore its giant corn maze and participate in pie-eating contests, among other attractions.

Halloween is big business for Schultz and other seasonal business owners. Halloween-related spending is expected to reach $13.5 billion in the United States in 2026, according to a National Retail Federation consumer survey released in September. Among the 74% of Americans celebrating the holiday this year, 42% said they plan to carve a pumpkin.

At The Great Pumpkin Farm, “attendance increases almost every year,” according to Schultz.

During the fall, “there are people who come here almost every weekend,” he says. “They love it so much they keep coming back.”

Schultz, who runs an antique store and year-round antique auction business, says he got the idea to start his farm after visiting a pumpkin patch in upstate New York in the early 1990s. That farm had “muddy parking lots and not a lot of restrooms,” he recalls, but there were “millions of people” walking around and buying pumpkins.

“I looked around and said, ‘I could do this, better than that,’” Schultz says. So when the old cow farm next to his antique store came up for sale, he bought the 85-acre property for about $650,000, he says.

With the help of other local farmers, Schultz learned to grow his own squash, and the Great Pumpkin Farm officially opened in 1996. But Schultz had even bigger plans for his farm. That same year, he asked Ray Waterman, founder of the World Pumpkin Confederation, an organization dedicated to growing giant pumpkins and gourds, to host his annual global pumpkin weigh-off. at the Great Pumpkin Farm.

Schultz purchased prize indemnity insurance, which covers the cost of the contest prizes and promotion, and offered $50,000 to anyone bringing in a pumpkin weighing 1,000 pounds or more. He took out ads in newspapers “all over the country” promoting the weigh-in. The winning pumpkin, grown by a couple from Lowville, New York, broke the world record at the time. at a whopping 1,061 pounds.

“We were in magazines and newspapers all over the world,” Schultz recalls. “It put us on the map from the start.”

The Great Pumpkin Farm still holds a weigh-in event every October, and this year’s heaviest pumpkin weighed 1,908.5 pounds, almost double the weight of the 1996 winner.

These days, Schultz focuses less on growing squash – to meet demand, he buys most of the farm’s pumpkins from neighboring farms. But The Great Pumpkin Farm’s 50-foot pumpkin pyramid, visible from the road, is still the first thing you see when you arrive. visitors see. According to Schultz, the farm stocks more than 25,000 pumpkins each year.

Weekend visitors pay $20 per ticket, which covers admission for both days. They can access a wide range of activities, including hay rides, pie eating contests, magic shows, a giant slide, live music, train rides, a kid-friendly “boo barn,” and pumpkin go-kart rides, to name a few.

For an additional fee, visitors can try the farm rides, pumpkin cannons, zombie paintball train, carnival games, and Buffalo Bills-themed corn maze. Alongside the farm bar and bakery, Schultz hosts festival food vendors whose offerings vary from barbecue to specialty grilled cheese sandwiches.

“You can come here and spend the day without having done everything,” he says.

Weekdays require no entry fee and are more low-key. Visitors can shop for pumpkins, visit the Halloween store, bar and bakery, and enjoy the outdoor playground, petting zoo and hay maze.

Creating this fall festival requires a lot of work, according to Schultz. It employs more than 100 seasonal workers during the seven weeks the farm is open each year, and their tasks range from driving tractors for hayrides to serving pumpkin donuts.

Rising gas costs are another major expense, Schultz says: It takes “many, many gallons of fuel” to maintain the grounds and run the tractors for hay rides. Since Schultz is trying to avoid raising entry prices, he predicts the company will “earn a little less” in 2026.

“The business has been profitable, but we usually take most of the money and try to reinvest it,” Schultz says.

Since Schultz owns the land surrounding the farm – about 300 acres in total – there is always room to expand it, he said. Each year, his goal is to add “something new, fun or improve what we already have.”

The farm has become a family business: Schultz’s son Ben has helped run it and his antiques business for 25 years.

“I just like spending time with my dad, that’s how I got involved in all this,” says Ben Schultz, 45. “I’m very proud of what he’s created here, and I’m just happy to be a part of it.”

Their shared goal for The Great Pumpkin Farm, according to Ben Schultz, is to “keep the momentum going.” From the farm’s simple beginnings, “it’s hard to imagine it’s gotten this big,” he says.

Kelly Schultz’s grandchildren also began helping on the farm, he said.

“They love coming here,” he said. “They all want to be there all the time, every day.”

“I’m sure the pumpkin farm will be a generational business,” he continues. “It’s definitely a family event.”

Throughout the month of October, the farm is bustling with activity, but after Halloween, everything stops, according to Schultz. Petting Zoo animals return to their home farms; amusement park rides are packed up and removed, and pig farmers collect the remaining pumpkins to use as food. Tidying up everything and cleaning the property takes about a month, Schultz said.

The rest of the year, about 20 full-time employees help maintain the Great Pumpkin Farm’s old barns and mow the grass.

Otherwise, Schultz and his family are starting to sell antiques again — at least until next fall.