Stony Hill Farm Market thrives as farmers’ market season winds dow
Stony Hill Farm Market in Chester, N.J., offers many fall-themed activities in October and November to encourage people to visit their attractions and buy local produce as the farmers’ market season starts to wind down.
Stony Hill Farm Market and Stony Hill Gardens make up the larger Stony Hill Farms. Both are located in Chester, N.J., and are owned and operated by Carol and Dale Davis III, and their three children, Dale IV, Kaitlyn, and Brandt.
The bulk of their revenue comes from farmers’ markets, but as many markets are closing for the season, the farm market and gardens provide key revenue throughout the off-season. During peak season, Stony Hill operates in 14 farmers’ markets — fewer than they have in the past.
“We were up to 25 and it got to be too much,” said Dana Ronyack-Davis, who manages the farm market and human resources for Stony Hill. “Markets kind of got saturated. Every town wanted a farmers’ market, so some markets suffered because of that.”
Rather than making an effort to be in many places at once, Stony Hill tries to bring guests to them this time of year. The gardens, whose full-service floral shop is open year-round, have more than 20,000 square feet of greenhouses with a variety of perennials and annuals for sale.
At the farm market location, Stony Hill offers the farm store, school tours, a community supported agriculture (CSA) program and agritourism — which includes the corn maze, hay rides, and strawberry and pumpkin picking. They will have apple picking next year.
This time of year is the busiest for the farm market — they receive a few thousand visitors in October alone, with Columbus Day weekend being their peak.
One of the biggest attractions at Stony Hill Farm Market is the corn maze and fun park. The 10-acre maze has a different theme every year — this year it is “Knights and Dragons.” In the past, they have commemorated the state of New Jersey’s 350th anniversary, depicted the 2013 governor’s race (with the faces of Chris Christie and Barbara Buono carved into the cornfield), and portrayed animals and plants of the rainforest. Once a design is chosen for the season, GPS-enabled tractors cut through the maze to its exact specifications.
The maze’s unique designs draw people from many different locales who come back year after year.
“Everyone from all over — Staten Island to eastern Pennsylvania — come in,” said Jim Haggerty, who is working his first tourism season at Stony Hill. “Almost everyone who comes here has stories from the years before.”
Dyanna Hallick made the trip from Manhattan to Chester, just to visit Stony Hill. “This is my fourth year here — they have an amazing corn maze,” she said.
It took Hallick and her friend a little over an hour to complete the maze, which is well below average. According to Haggerty, the maze requires about two hours on average to complete, but he has seen people take up to four-and-a-half hours to make it through. The maze operators even keep a phone at the ticket booth and include the emergency number on the back of the information sheet provided to maze-goers in case they find themselves truly lost and in need of rescuing.
Stony Hill Farm Market, the corn maze and the fun park is open daily from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. until Nov. 15.
