Ah, fall — the season of color, cooling nights, cider, pumpkins and frost.

It’s the time when thousands of people will head out to a local farm to take in some of the autumnal atmosphere.

Area farmers are getting ready for the onslaught of visitors with gusto, preparing to help those hearty souls heading out to pick some ripe apples or haul pumpkins home for carving.

Eddie Gordon, co-owner of Gordon Skagit Farms outside of Mount Vernon, rushed around his fields recently, stacking hay bales, gourds and other seasonal
decorations in anticipation of another lucrative fall season.

Lucrative, Gordon said, because more people than ever are visiting his U-pick apple orchard and pumpkin fields. Gordon points to the economy as the main cause.

“Last year, when the banking thing shook out, we had a really great business,” Gordon said.

“We don’t know what’s going to be happening this year, but we’re banking that people are going to be doing the staycations and looking for something local.”
That could be a good bet.

Pick-your-own orchards are expected to have a strong fall season, thanks to consumers staying closer to home for leisure activities and an increased interest in local food and lower prices.

“Because of the whole staycation-daycation thing, a lot of our members are saying business has been good,” said Kathy McKay, spokeswoman for the North American Farmers’ Direct Marketing Association. “People are looking for things to do near home instead of getting on a plane.”

“We have not heard of any apple U-picks going out of business because of lack of business,” agreed Todd Hultquist, spokesman for the U.S. Apple Association, who said the top three states for pick-your-own apples are Michigan, New York and Pennsylvania.

John Slemmer, who lists U-pick farms on a Web site called http://www.PickYourOwn.org, estimates that there are about 10,000 such places nationally, including not just apple orchards but farms that grow all kinds of produce throughout the year.

In addition to apple orchards, outings to pumpkin patches are popular in autumn. Find a place near you at http://www.pumpkin patchesandmore.org.

Skagit Valley farmers have increasingly added U-pick options in recent years, enticing more traffic to their farms during the fall months, according to the Northwest Agriculture Business Center.

Many expect that traffic to increase as they head into another fall season and gear up for the 11th annual Skagit Valley Festival of Family Farms on Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 3-4. Visitors can tour 13 farms and check out everything from dairy and berries to pumpkins and alpacas, and enjoy kids’ activities, music and more.

Although the national direct marketing association says the economy drives more people to the fields, Gordon estimates that many of the people who come to his farm are from the Seattle area. Gordon’s kicks off the fall season Oct. 1 with a corn maze, U-pick pumpkins and apples, and elaborate Halloween and fall displays perfect for backdrops to some lively family photos, Gordon said.

People don’t come so much for affordable pumpkins and apples as they do for the farm and seasonal “experience,” he said. Visitors don’t have to travel far for a day that includes family bonding and a quieter, gentler rural atmosphere.

Many local farmers have been hyping the harvest season and Halloween fun as part of the big push in recent years to market more directly to customers, said Jim Meyer, co-manager of Cascadian Farm in Rockport.

For Cascadian Farm, an organic farm that emphasizes blueberries, that’s meant offering U-pick pumpkins, plenty of colorful fall decor and a scarecrow-decorating contest.

Direct marketing means cutting out the middle man and allows the farmer to keep more of the profits, Meyer said. A healthy roadside stand business can earn about half of a farmer’s revenue, Meyer added. That’s especially true during the slower fall months, he said.

“Once you’re involved in direct marketing, you want to maintain your volume of customers throughout most of the year,” Meyer said.

For Schuh Farms just west of Mount Vernon, Halloween and harvest season is a favorite. The farm offers a fun carnival atmosphere during the fall months, including U-pick pumpkin fields, hay rides, fall decor and games for kids.

Alan Merritt, co-owner of Rosabella’s near Bow (formerly Merritt Apples), said the market for U-pick customers has been slow to develop on the West Coast.
People from the Midwest and East Coast grew up heading out to small local farms during the fall months to choose pumpkins, taste cider and pick apples — it was an annual tradition, he said.

In fact, many of the people who pick apples at Merritt’s 35 acres of apple orchards are from the East Coast originally and have moved to the Seattle area, he said.

“Our experience is that local people can really care less about it,” Merritt said, while strolling among several jonagold apple trees in his orchard on a recent warm morning.

Merritt’s wife, Rose, urged him to set aside some of his property for a U-pick business about five years ago. Rose Merritt is originally from the East Coast and knew that U-pick was a great way to increase their business.

The number of people who visit the farm for U-picking has gradually increased during the past five years, as more people become aware of the fall “experience,” Rose said.

In addition, parents and grandparents love to bring their children and grandchildren for a day on the farm. Many kids don’t know much about where their food comes from, Alan Merritt said.

Reaching up to a branch of the tree, Merritt tenderly wrapped his palm around a nearly ripe apple and tugged it gently free. In a sense, farmers are educators, he said. Most kids have never picked apples, and they destroy the branches and bruise the fruit by ripping the apples from the trees.

“We have little sessions before the kids go out to show them how to pick the apples,” he said.

But Merritt said he loves the looks on people’s faces when they bring in a full basket they’ve picked themselves.

“We get people coming from other countries, even, who have never seen an apple tree,” he said, with a smile. “They come here, and they connect.”

n Beverly Crichfield can be reached at 360-416-2135 or Beth J. Harpaz, Associated Press Travel Editor, contributed to this story.