A-MAZE-ing Fun: Sweet Berry Farm offers activities all year

By DEMI GUILLORY | Photos by JANE GIBSON and courtesy of SWEET BERRY FARM

Although it might not always be the perfect fall weather in Central Texas, harvest season is celebrated with Texas flair in Marble Falls.

The 152 acres of land, better known to locals as Sweet Berry Farm, has had its last succulent strawberry and massive sunflower picked for the 2025 seasons, and the prep work for this year’s Texas-sized fall festivities is completed. Fall has well and truly arrived at the farm owned by

Dan Copeland, who initially acquired 10 acres in 1999, planting strawberries on seven of them and opening to the public in March 2000.

Each mid-September through late November, the season consists of pumpkins, mazes, hayrides and so much more. The annual event began in 2004 as the Harvest of Fall Fun and attracts as many as 10,000 visitors every season. Not just any pumpkin patch, Sweet Berry Farm prides itself on offering a unique, wholesome experience for the entire family.

Popular activities include pumpkin painting, scarecrow stuffing, picking your own flowers, and sand art. Hayrides are also not your average adventure here.

“We thought a regular old hayride was kind of boring, so we stuffed some scarecrows, and we have these little scarecrow scenes that (visitors) can see all throughout the hayride,” said Lacy Garcia, field trip coordinator and kitchen manager at the farm. Offering a glimpse into the life of a scarecrow, “it is about a 15-minute ride on a dry creek bed here on the property.”

No fall festival would be complete without a maze and luckily for the visitors at Sweet Berry Farm, there are three to wander, get lost in, and find a way out for people of all ages. While the Candy Corn Maze and Barnyard Maze are geared toward children, the biggest of them all is the appropriately named Texas Maze. A challenge to navigate and even harder to miss, the Texas Maze has become the farm’s hallmark event.

“If you fly over our property in an airplane, you will see a big (hay-grazed) shape of Texas which is planted every year,” Garcia said.

While the massive maze is a standout on its own, its intricate construction makes it even more synonymous with Sweet Berry Farm. Copeland decided early on that the Texas Maze should be as unique as the state it occupies.

“A typical maze,” she added, “you start at the entrance and then you try to find the exit, but (Copeland) didn’t like that.”

Instead of trying to locate the exit, Copeland added real Texas towns inside the maze where wanderers have to find their way through each one before exiting. The number of towns ranges from 12 and 15 every year and follows a theme.

“This year, our theme is ‘Texas is a Five Letter Word,’ so all of our cities have five letters.”

Field trips to Sweet Berry Farm are also popular and offer students not only another way to explore the farm, but an opportunity to learn about agriculture, entomology and animals with guided tours and goat feedings. As the field trip coordinator, Garcia communicates with schools to arrange visits and trains the farmers who oversee the tours.

In her various roles, Garcia has watched the farm’s growth from humble beginnings to becoming a must-visit stop in the Texas Hill Country. She credits the farm’s success to its focus on the people who make it all worthwhile. There is no admission fee, and visitors only pay for the activities they choose to do.

“You just pay for the activities that you want to do, and there’s no pressure to do all of them,” Garcia said.

Having the option to curate your own experience on the farm gives Garcia and her team a great sense of pride for the love and passion they pour into their work.

“Even if you have a dollar, you can come out and feed the goats and still have a good time,” she added.

Picnics are also encouraged with plenty of shaded areas and tables available for guests. Alcohol is not sold on the farm, further emphasizing the family-friendly fun it promotes.

“Everyone’s here for that fall, American tradition.”

The unpredictable Texas weather may not always promise fall-like temperatures, and while Garcia and the team certainly “pray for a cool fall every year,” the farm guarantees a celebratory experience no matter what Mother Nature has in store.

“It might be 100 degrees outside, and we’ll still get people with their plaids and boots to get that (fall) photo.”

Visit Sweet Berry Farm
Address: 1801 FM 1980, Marble Falls
Website: sweetberryfarm.com
Phone: 830-798-1462
Hours: 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday-Tuesday
and Thursday-Saturday, 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday