What do you do with a beautiful weekend full of sun & little on the calendar? Well, first you look over at Family Fun Calgary to see what is going on around Calgary, then (if you’re us) you get in your car and drive to Kayben Farms in Okotoks to celebrate the Strawberry Festival. Kayben is a U-Pick farm that also has a kid’s play park called the Sunshine Adventure Park.
When we drove up, we knew we were in trouble. As with so many festivals in Calgary and surrounding areas….it was PACKED. We arrived at 11:40 after a 10am opening. All the U-Pick strawberries were already gone. We hadn’t talked that up much with Evan, though, so no one was too upset. All the Strawberry Festival activities took place in the Sunshine Adventure Park. It has a $10 per person or $30 per family entrance fee. Inside you will find the berry bouncer (packed…Evan melted down in the first minute b/c so many kids meant more falling than bouncing), giant slide w/climbing wall (Evan loved the slide. The climbing wall was a bit advanced for him.), the rye maze (Evan loved…pretty easy), farm animals (not many & not really for petting), a tree maze (we didn’t try), wheat wonderland (a silo with wheat the kids could play in…Evan’s fave by a mile) and hay rides. Even though there were lots of things to do, it was hard to do (or enjoy) much of it because there were so many people. It left me questioning whether it was worth the entrance fee…especially since the price is the same for everyone 3 and up but there are really only things for kids to do.
Another issue was food. I would have preferred to eat in their restaurant but we wanted to get into the Sunshine Adventure Park so Evan could play. They have a concession, so we went that route. The hamburgers were $6 and hotdogs were $3. So 3 hotdogs & one strawberry slurpy was $12. We went back for 2 waters bringing our total to close to $50 for the day. If we go back, we will definitely bring lunch as there were long lines & it was just so/so concession fare.
Meltdown boy needed FOOD.
And now…pictures!
Water & Rubber Duckies….Fun!
Playing in the wheat silo. Evan LOVED this.
Giant slide. It was super fast if you used the burlap sacks lying around.
Hay Ride.
Rye Maze. Fun but hot.
Anyhoo…overall we had a good day. It was very hot and there is very little shade in much of the Adventure Park. Evan doesn’t deal well with super crowded areas so if we go again, it won’t be on a festival day. Having said that, I think going to pick strawberries would be fun.
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I’ve never heard of Kayben farms, but I’ll definitely remember this for next year. I’d love to take the kids berry picking– they had a blast blueberry hunting in Maine!
samijoe recently posted..Get Your Pass To The Wilderness- Lake Minnewanka Camping
They have Upick left for this year. I think they just got started. Most Upicks are through August I think.
I guess it will be a good idea to visit the farm when it is not festival day. Not only it is less busy, but you are likely to be there in time to pick strawberries.
Darryl recently posted..oil painting lessons and classes for beginners
Agreed. We’re going to try to get back out to Kayben to pick strawberries before they’re gone.
We did one of their festivals last year and knowing it would be busy and my kids also do not always handle crowds well, we arrrived right before they opened.
It allowed us to do almost everything without there being tons of people and when lunch time came around we were all happy to just sit for a bit and eat.
But I do agree, festival days are almost not worth the price.
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We really stink at getting out of the house early. It’s a big detriment for visiting some things…especially festivals.