Things to Do

Meet Charlie Brown & Friends with Great Pumpkin Village at Arboretum

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Tony Maples Photography

 

Autumn at the Arboretum, presented by Rogers-O’Brien Construction, returns for the 14th year with their nationally acclaimed Pumpkin Village. This year’s festival, “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown,” runs September 21-October 31. The festival features pumpkin houses and creative displays that use over 90,000 pumpkins, gourds, and squash. The Dallas Arboretum’s favorite fall festival features a Great Pumpkin covered in marigolds and topiary characters such as Linus, Sally and Franklin looking through the pumpkin patch. Snoopy and Woodstock topiaries top his dog house; Lucy gives garden advice at her advice booth; and Schroeder stands near his giant topiary piano.

Take Selfies With Charlie Brown & Peppermint Patty

Meet Charlie Brown & Friends with Great Pumpkin Village at Arboretum

Photo: Dallas Arboretum

Guests can snap selfies with Charlie Brown, Peppermint Patty, and Marcie behind the iconic brick wall. Get lost with Pig Pen in the hay bale maze! Catch the Peanuts Gang at their gourd decorated schoolhouse for the annual autumn carnival. Named one of “The Best Pumpkin Festivals to Visit This Fall,” by Martha Stewart Living Magazine, the festival features breathtaking fall colors. Included are 150,000 autumn flowers accented by pumpkins, gourds, and squash.

Alan Walne, Dallas Arboretum’s board chairman, said, “Known for amazing and creative displays, our 50-member horticulture team creates an awesome Pumpkin Village display where more than 250,000 people visit during Autumn at the Arboretum. They experience the garden in its fall glory, walk in the pumpkin houses, and enjoy the programming throughout the garden.”

This year’s festival features 150,000 fall-blooming flowers and plants; 90,000 pumpkins, gourds, and squash in Pumpkin Village; 3,000 ears of corn; and 1,500 corn stalks in the Pumpkin Village. Also 900 bales of hay mixed with 24 types of pumpkin; 17 squash types and seven gourd types.

Explore Charlie Brown’s Pumpkin Village

Meet Charlie Brown & Friends with Great Pumpkin Village at Arboretum

Photo: Dallas Arboretum

Visitors to Charlie Brown’s Pumpkin Village will find a 15-feet tall Great Pumpkin topiary, filled with 4,500 quarts of marigolds. Then encounter Linus, Franklin, and Sally topiaries looking through the pumpkin patch; and Snoopy’s Doghouse made of pumpkins. Snoopy and Woodstock are greeted by Linus and Sally in a pumpkin mosaic.

Inside a 10-foot pumpkin house, a Lucy topiary offers therapeutic garden advice inside her new “Garden Advice Hut.” A Schroeder topiary stands next to his giant topiary piano made up of stunning impatiens. Charlie Brown, Peppermint Patty, and Marcie topiaries hang out behind the Iconic Brick Wall. Also in the village, find the Peanuts Gang School House; multi-gourd decorated house for the Autumn Carnival; a Haybale Maze to get lost with Pig Pen topiary; and the dreaded Kite Eating Pecan Tree! Don’t miss this Great Pumpkin celebration.

Special Programs Featured

Meet Charlie Brown & Friends with Great Pumpkin Village at Arboretum

Photo: Dallas Arboretum

National Comic Book Day is September 25 in Rory Meyers Children’s Adventure Garden. You’re invited to celebrate with Peanuts comic strip coloring pages, a caricature artist doing complimentary sketches from 10 a.m. until noon, and a Peanuts costume contest from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. (for children 12 years old and under). The winner will get four tickets to the Rory Meyers Children’s Adventure Garden.

A Tricks & Treats Scavenger Hunt every Thursday (September 26-October 31) from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. throughout the gardens. It’s free of charge with paid admission. Maps are available at information booth, with a sweet prize of a “Charlie Brownie” from the Terrace Café.

Meet Charlie Brown & Friends with Great Pumpkin Village at Arboretum

Photo: Dallas Arboretum

October 30, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., celebrate Charlie Brown’s Birthday in the main garden (free with paid garden admission). Complimentary cake slices will be available for the first 100 garden attendees after gates open at 9 a.m. Local businesses sell an assortment of ice cream and cake throughout the gardens. Guests can enjoy nostalgic lawn games such as musical chairs, a hula hoop contest, and potato sack racing starting at 11 a.m. on the Martin Rutchik Concert Stage and Lawn.

Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden

Meet Charlie Brown & Friends with Great Pumpkin Village at Arboretum

Photo: Dallas Arboretum

The Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden is located on the southeastern shore of White Rock Lake at 8525 Garland Road in Dallas, Texas. It’s also home to the internationally acclaimed Rory Meyers Children’s Adventure Garden. The garden is open daily from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Visit their website here!