UBC October 2026 - Pumpkin Farms

You've been following me for a while, and you know that every fall I take several trips to visit some of the wonderful pumpkin locations offered by Jucker Farm.

The Jucker Farm pumpkin exhibition evolved from a rather accidental beginning into one of Switzerland's biggest fall attractions. 

After a number of young fruit trees were lost to frost, the Jucker brothers decided to plant pumpkins on the affected plot instead. In 1997, they harvested far more pumpkins than they knew what to do with, piled them up around the farm shop, and visitors loved them. The first "pumpkin exhibition" was born, almost by accident.

What started with a pile of pumpkins has since developed into elaborate, meter-high sculptures based on a different theme every year. The pumpkin spectacle now attracts tens of thousands of visitors, while Jucker Farm has expanded the concept far beyond Seegräben, with exhibitions in Switzerland and throughout Europe.

And then came the post-pandemic years.

People discovered "nature" and started flooding consumer-friendly destinations like Jucker Farm.

The flagship location is the Juckerhof in Seegräben, a pretty remote village with very limited parking. The municipal car park has just 100 spaces. That doesn't seem to have been an easy concept for some visitors to grasp. Cars would queue along the road, blocking it, with drivers apparently hoping that one parking space would eventually become available, while others simply left their cars on private property.

In recent years, the locals became increasingly unhappy with the situation, and Jucker Farm had to negotiate with the municipality and make compromises. In 2024, the pumpkin exhibition in Seegräben was shortened from the usual eight weeks to just four. At the same time, Jucker introduced an admission fee and, together with the local transport operator, expanded the bus service from Uster. During the exhibition, visitors could park in Uster and take the bus to Seegräben instead of attempting to bring their cars into the village.

But apparently, the problem has become serious enough that Jucker Farm has hired a security company to regulate traffic during the pumpkin season.

Their job is, among other things, to prevent drivers from blocking the through road or stopping at the side of the road while waiting for a parking space to become available.

There is a video taken by a local TV channel that illustrates the situation rather perfectly. The parking lot is full. Drivers nevertheless stop and wait. A security guard approaches them and, as far as I can tell from the video, politely asks them to keep driving.

And some visitors don't take that particularly well.

The guard gets called an "asshole."

So apparently it's not just the people trying to skip the queue at the buffet who have forgotten how civilisation works. Some people apparently also consider a full parking lot to be a personal insult, and a security guard doing his job fair game for their frustration.

The shortened exhibition was explicitly presented as a measure against overtourism and to reduce the pressure on the village. The admission fee was introduced at the same time, partly to offset the financial consequences of the shorter exhibition and the additional costs of the new system.

To be honest, I had always been slightly surprised that, in the past, you could simply go there for free. You could even bring your own food and sit on the benches, despite the fact that they had a wonderful self-service buffet.

I didn't mind paying if I am going to get a less crowded experience, and, frankly, if the admission fee helped recognize the considerable effort that goes into creating such a spectacular exhibition.

Well, that lasted until this year.

People are like water, right? They look for the path of least resistance, and, given the choice, they generally appreciate saving a buck or two.

The second large Jucker location, the Bächlihof in Jona near Rapperswil, is equally lovely and also sits close to the lake. It has a somewhat larger parking area, although still nothing remotely designed for the kind of crowds the pumpkin exhibition can attract.

So, naturally, visitors increasingly gravitated towards Rapperswil.

Guess what.

As of 2026, the Bächlihof charges an admission fee, too.

And here is where it gets interesting.

The ticket check is right at the entrance. So if you simply want to visit the Hofladen, buy some produce or have lunch, you have to pay admission to get in during the exhibition.

Depending on whether it's a weekday or weekend, we're talking CHF 11 or CHF 13; roughly USD 13 to 16.

I can't help feeling that these "measures" aren't doing much to fight mass tourism. If anything, more and more people seem to be discovering these places. And Jucker Farm is certainly not shrinking as a business as a result. In 2023 alone, the farm shops sold more than 73,000 pumpkins, while the farm kitchen and HofManufaktur processed another 116,925.

The prices in the self-service restaurant have gone up as well. The quality is still excellent, but at some point even people like me start feeling that we're being taken advantage of.

And then there is something else.

This isn't Jucker Farm's fault, but it drastically lowers my mood: badly behaved visitors.

The path between the public parking lot and the farm is subject to a driving ban. There are exceptions for "Zubringer", for example, suppliers, and for vehicles bringing passengers with limited mobility. There are also a handful of spaces specifically marked for farm-shop visitors, with a 20-minute maximum.

I witnessed a perfectly healthy young man using that road and one of those spaces because he "just wanted to have lunch."

Hahaha.

Imagine my schadenfreude when he discovered that admission was required for that, too.

And yes, I realize that this is completely inconsistent: I don't actually agree with the lunch admission fee as a principle. But watching someone apparently use a restricted access route to avoid walking a few minutes, only to discover that he hadn't actually avoided the entrance fee, was nevertheless rather satisfying.

Then there are the laissez-faire moms with their free-range children.

Did I mention that children under 12 get in free? So naturally there are plenty of mothers with toddlers and young children. Some of the kids behave perfectly well. Others...

Touching exhibits that are fenced off and clearly marked "Please don't touch."

Knocking down a fence where farm animals are roaming.

Using a bubble machine indoors on a wooden floor.

Climbing onto chairs with their shoes on.

Running around, shrieking, or watching videos at full volume on a tablet in the restaurant area  where other people might reasonably like to eat their lunch in peace.

The cherry on top was the mother who literally chased after her children, who couldn't be bothered to sit down at the table, with forks full of food.

I have absolutely no idea what she was trying to achieve there, and frankly, it's none of my business.

But it certainly didn't contribute to my enjoying a leisurely (and rather pricey) lunch.

Oh, and I was there on a Monday.

Imagine the circus on a sunny weekend.

So what's my bottom line?

I used to genuinely look forward to visiting the different Jucker Farm locations. It was one of my favourite things to do in the fall: beautiful scenery, spectacular pumpkin sculptures, good food, a bit of shopping. A lovely day out.

And I really don't mind paying for that. I am perfectly happy to pay an admission fee believing it would help preserve the experience, reduce the crowds and acknowledge the considerable effort that goes into creating the exhibition.

The problem is that the equation no longer seems to work.

I'm not looking for free entertainment. I'm looking for an experience that feels worth making the trip for. And increasingly, the crowds, the behaviour of some visitors and the general feeling of being funnelled through an ever more commercialised attraction are getting in the way of that.

This year, visiting Jucker Farm felt like an almost painful chore.

I've reached my limit.

I may leave it at the one visit this year and think long and hard about whether I want to go at all next year.

Because it's not about the price of admission.

It's about whether the experience is still worth the trip.

Video: Pumpkins everywhere! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdDkiLH3Vg0&t=11s