Pulaski County Kentucky Bear Wallow Fall Festival
Autumn at Bear Wallow Farm smells of straw and woodsmoke, and the pumpkin patch stretches out in rows that seem to run past the fence line. The farm sits in Nancy, a small unincorporated community in Pulaski County, and its fall weekends have become a seasonal gathering point for families across the surrounding countryside. The event answers to more than one printed name, and the layers describing it never settle on a single label. A festival-guide layer calls it Bear Wallow Fall Festival and numbers its autumn weekends. The farm’s own promotional layers call the same season Fall FarmFest or Bear Wallow Fall FarmFest. A tourism-bureau email layer and the state tourism layer’s event listings call it Kentucky Pumpkin Fest or KY Pumpkin Fest. The day itself stays steady across the names.
About
Bear Wallow Farm is a pumpkin farm on Piney Grove Road in Nancy, and the fall festival is the farm itself at its busiest. The farm is both host and organiser in every layer read, with no separate organising body named anywhere. Nancy is a quiet rural community, and Somerset holds the county seat elsewhere in the county.
The fall season runs across weekends rather than a single day. A regional magazine layer’s recurring-events listing places the 2025 season from September 20 through November 2, with Saturdays running from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Sundays from 1 to 6 p.m. A festival-guide layer lists the 2026 season as Bear Wallow Fall Festival weekends numbered one through seven, running from mid-September to November 1, 2026, with several installments marked by the guide’s own unconfirmed-date asterisk. A state tourism layer separately lists KY Pumpkin Fest 2026 on September 26 and 27, 2026, and the two 2026 listings are kept distinct here. The programme, as fenced to the farm’s own layers and tourism layers, includes a pumpkin patch with hayrides, a corn maze, pig races, an animal barn and petting zoo, live music, a tube slide, sunflower and pumpkin picking, food and milkshakes. Admission is ticketed, and a tourism-bureau email layer states that one ticket covers the hayride, corn maze, pig races, animal barn, live music and slide, with online purchase advised. The spring Kentucky Tulip Festival and the farm’s Country Christmas and Christmas FarmFest events belong to other seasons and are not part of this fall account.
Quick Facts
| Detail | Information |
| Host community | Nancy, an unincorporated community in Pulaski County |
| County seat | Somerset |
| Venue | Bear Wallow Farm, Piney Grove Road, Nancy |
| Organiser and host | Bear Wallow Farm |
| 2025 season | September 20 through November 2, weekends only |
| 2025 weekend hours | Saturdays 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., Sundays 1 to 6 p.m. |
| 2026 guide listing | Bear Wallow Fall Festival weekends one through seven, mid-September to November 1 |
| 2026 state listing | KY Pumpkin Fest on September 26 and 27 |
| Admission | Ticketed, one ticket covering the main attractions, online purchase advised |
History
No layer read states a founding year for the fall festival, and this article does not supply one. The farm’s autumn weekends appear in the layers as a going concern rather than as an event with a documented birth, and the honest account is that the beginning sits outside the published record. What the layers do document is a farm that has built its identity around pumpkins and around opening its land to visitors in the harvest months.
The documented record sharpens in 2025, when a regional magazine layer’s recurring-events listing sets out the Fall FarmFest weekends from September 20 through November 2, with Saturday and Sunday hours and over twenty attractions. The 2026 record adds a second season and a second naming. A festival-guide layer numbers the Bear Wallow Fall Festival weekends one through seven from mid-September to November 1, 2026, marking several with its unconfirmed-date asterisk, while a state tourism layer separately lists KY Pumpkin Fest 2026 on September 26 and 27. The festival’s history, as far as the layers reach, is a history of a working pumpkin farm turning its harvest into a public season, weekend by weekend.
For a useful comparison, see the Pulaski County Kentucky Christmas Island Festival for another county festival.
What to Expect
Pumpkins set the rhythm of a visit, and the patch is the natural first stop. Rows of pumpkins in different sizes wait for choosing, and the farm’s own layers pair the patch with hayrides that carry visitors out to the fields and back, so the ride itself becomes part of the choosing. The corn maze gives the farm its sense of scale. Tall stalks close overhead, paths fork and double back, and finding the way out takes patience rather than speed.
Pig races are the loudest hour of the day. A crowd gathers at the fence, the pigs trot or amble down their lane, and the cheering is good-natured rather than serious. The animal barn and petting zoo offer a quieter counterweight, with farm animals to watch and to touch, and children linger there longer than their parents expect. The tube slide sends riders down a long slope with a rush that suits the bold and amuses the watchers. Food and milkshakes round out the day. One ticket covers the hayride, corn maze, pig races, animal barn, live music and slide, according to a tourism-bureau email layer, which makes the day simple to plan once the ticket is bought. Online purchase is advised in that same layer, so buying ahead is the smoother route.
Planning Your Visit
The 2026 listings need a closer look before a trip is fixed. A festival-guide layer numbers the Bear Wallow Fall Festival weekends one through seven from mid-September to November 1, 2026, with several installments carrying the guide’s unconfirmed-date asterisk, and those asterisked dates should be treated as unconfirmed until the farm or the guide confirms them. A state tourism layer separately lists KY Pumpkin Fest 2026 on September 26 and 27, and that listing stands on its own.
Tickets deserve attention before arrival. The fall event is ticketed, and a tourism-bureau email layer states that one ticket covers the hayride, corn maze, pig races, animal barn, live music and slide. Online purchase is advised in that layer, and buying ahead avoids a queue at the gate. Dress for a farm: closed shoes that can handle dirt and straw, layers for a cool autumn evening, and something warm for children who will want to stay until the Saturday hours run out. Bringing a bag for pumpkins and sunflowers is practical, since picking is part of the programme.
A Sample Itinerary for the 2026 Edition
A Saturday visit could begin at 10 a.m., when the farm opens, with a hayride out to the pumpkin patch while the morning is still cool and the crowds are thin. From the patch, a walk to the corn maze makes a natural second stop, with the morning energy spent on finding the way through the stalks. The afternoon could open with the pig races, which draw the biggest crowd of the day and are best watched from a spot along the fence reached a little early. Sunflower picking fits the late afternoon, when the light turns warm and the flowers photograph well. On a Sunday, the same shape compresses into the shorter hours, from 1 to 6 p.m. in the 2025 pattern, so the patch and the maze deserve the first two hours and the races and slide the middle of the afternoon.
How It Compares
A single-day harvest fair packs its whole programme into a few hours, and visitors feel the squeeze. Bear Wallow’s fall season does the opposite, stretching across weekends from mid-September into early November, so a family that misses one Saturday has another waiting. A county fair, meanwhile, leans on competition: livestock judging, baked goods, and ribbons. Bear Wallow leans on play instead. The pig races, the tube slide, the maze, and the petting zoo are built for doing rather than judging, and the farm’s own layers describe a place to spend a day rather than a place to enter a contest. The event’s many names set it apart from festivals that print one label everywhere. A festival-guide layer calls it Bear Wallow Fall Festival, the farm’s own layers call it Fall FarmFest or Bear Wallow Fall FarmFest, and tourism layers call it Kentucky Pumpkin Fest or KY Pumpkin Fest. The names differ, the farm does not.
A Visitor’s Checklist
- Buy the ticket online before setting out, since online purchase is advised and one ticket covers the main attractions
- Confirm the weekend and its hours in the farm’s own promotional layers, and treat any guide listing marked with an unconfirmed-date asterisk as unconfirmed
- Wear closed shoes suited to dirt, straw, and uneven farm ground
- Bring layers for a cool autumn evening, especially on a Saturday that runs to 9 p.m.
- Carry a bag for pumpkins and sunflowers picked during the visit
- Leave time for the pig races and reach the fence a little early for a good spot
- Remember that Nancy is a small community and Somerset, the county seat, is the larger town for other services
Beyond the Festival Ground
Nancy sits in the rolling farm country of Pulaski County, and the drive to Bear Wallow Farm is part of the visit. Fields, fences, and barns line the roads, and the landscape itself explains why a pumpkin farm took root here. Somerset, the county seat, offers the larger town’s shops, restaurants, and services for anyone making a longer day of the trip, and it makes a sensible stop before heading home or before arriving at the farm. The farm’s own season runs from mid-September into early November, which is the same stretch when the surrounding trees turn, so the journey to Nancy is at its prettiest while the festival is running.
Why This Festival Matters
A pumpkin farm that opens its gates for seven autumn weekends is doing more than selling pumpkins. It is giving families a reason to spend a whole day together outdoors, in a season when the weather invites it and the harvest gives it a purpose. The farm’s own billing as Kentucky’s number one pumpkin farm is a boast, and it is recorded as such, but the substance behind the boast is the breadth of the season: a patch, a maze, animals, music, a slide, and races, repeated weekend after weekend for anyone who wants to come. The layers that document two consecutive autumn seasons, 2025 and 2026, show a farm that has made the fall weekends a habit rather than a one-off.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which printed name should a visitor look for when searching for this autumn event?
The farm’s autumn weekends appear under several printed names, and all of them describe the same farm. A festival-guide layer calls the event Bear Wallow Fall Festival and numbers its weekends one through seven. The farm’s own promotional layers call the season Fall FarmFest or Bear Wallow Fall FarmFest. A tourism-bureau email layer and the state tourism layer’s event listings call it Kentucky Pumpkin Fest or KY Pumpkin Fest. A visitor who finds any of those names attached to Bear Wallow Farm in Nancy has found the right event.
What does a single ticket include on a fall weekend at the farm?
A tourism-bureau email layer states that one ticket covers the hayride, corn maze, pig races, animal barn, live music and slide, with online purchase advised. No ticket price is stated in any layer read, so the price must be checked through the farm’s own ticketing before a visit.
How can a visitor tell whether a 2026 weekend date is settled?
A festival-guide layer lists Bear Wallow Fall Festival weekends one through seven from mid-September to November 1, 2026, with several installments marked by the guide’s own unconfirmed-date asterisk, and those asterisked installments should be treated as unconfirmed until the farm or the guide confirms them. A state tourism layer separately lists KY Pumpkin Fest 2026 on September 26 and 27, and that listing stands on its own.
Is Nancy the county seat, and where is the farm itself?
Nancy is an unincorporated community in Pulaski County and is not the county seat; Somerset holds that role, according to county reference layers. The farm stands on Piney Grove Road in Nancy, and that road name is given without a street number because no street number is printed in the layers read. Visitors driving to the farm should follow the farm’s own directions and the Piney Grove Road address as printed.
What to Expect From the Next Pulaski County Kentucky Bear Wallow Fall Festival
How often is Pulaski County Kentucky Bear Wallow Fall Festival held?
The fall festival runs as a season of weekends rather than a single day. The 2025 season ran on weekends from September 20 through November 2, and the 2026 listings describe a similar autumn run, with a festival-guide layer numbering the weekends one through seven from mid-September to November 1, 2026, and a state tourism layer separately listing KY Pumpkin Fest 2026 on September 26 and 27. The pattern across both documented seasons is a run of autumn weekends each year.
When is the next Pulaski County Kentucky Bear Wallow Fall Festival?
The next documented season is the 2026 autumn run, with a festival-guide layer listing Bear Wallow Fall Festival weekends one through seven from mid-September to November 1, 2026, several of them marked with the guide’s unconfirmed-date asterisk, and a state tourism layer separately listing KY Pumpkin Fest 2026 on September 26 and 27. Several of the guide’s installments carry that unconfirmed marking, so the weekend should be confirmed through the farm’s own promotional layers before setting out.
Will the dates change?
Dates for the 2026 season carry some uncertainty, since several of the festival-guide layer’s weekend installments are marked with its unconfirmed-date asterisk, and the state tourism layer’s KY Pumpkin Fest listing for September 26 and 27 stands separately from the guide’s numbering. The broad shape is steady across both documented seasons, a run of autumn weekends from mid-September into early November, while the exact weekends should be confirmed rather than assumed.
A fall weekend at Bear Wallow Farm is a day built around a harvest, and the farm in Nancy opens its gates for a season of such weekends.
