The best seasonal harvest festivals near Ojai are Ojai Fall Fest (September 11 to 13, 2026), the Boccali Ranch Pumpkin Patch on the East End (October 3 to 31), and April’s Pixie tangerine season. Larger farm festivals at Underwood Family Farms in Moorpark and Prancer’s Farm in Santa Paula sit just outside the valley.
Key Takeaways
- Three harvest events happen inside Ojai in 2026: Ojai Fall Fest (September 11 to 13, free admission and parking), the Boccali Ranch Pumpkin Patch (October 3 to 31, free entry), and Pixie Tangerine Month each April.
- Underwood Family Farms in Moorpark (September 26 to October 31) and Prancer’s Farm in Santa Paula (September 26 to November 1) are the bigger family festivals, but both are outside Ojai.
- Boccali’s Tomato Festival has published 2026 pricing of $38 for the buffet and $20 for wine tasting; confirm the 2026 date and price before you plan around it.
- Underwood weekday admission is listed at $16 at the gate, while weekend admission is listed at $25 to $30 per person online.
- Ojai Vacation Home sits on a working citrus and avocado orchard on Ojai’s East End, sleeps up to 5 guests, and is 1.2 miles (about 4 minutes) from downtown Ojai Avenue.
- Dates in this guide come from third-party 2026 listings and organizer pages, so verify with the host before you drive.
Ojai’s harvest calendar does not follow the standard pumpkin-patch circuit found elsewhere in Ventura County. Fall events cluster in September and October, but the valley’s signature crop, the Pixie tangerine, ripens in spring. Planning around the season matters more here than in most towns.
At Ojai Vacation Home, a two-acre citrus and avocado orchard on Ojai’s East End, we field the same question from guests every season: which festivals are actually in Ojai, and which ones are a drive away? This guide sorts the two, with 2026 dates, costs as listed, and honest notes about who each event suits.
The dates below come from published 2026 local event listings plus Boccali’s own pages. Third-party listings shift, so a quick call or website check before you go is worth the two minutes.
Which Seasonal Harvest Festivals Near Ojai Are Worth Planning Around in 2026?
Seasonal harvest festivals near Ojai are farm, church, and community events tied to crop cycles, running from September tomato and pumpkin season through October patches to the April Pixie tangerine harvest. Three operate inside Ojai; two larger farm festivals sit in neighboring Moorpark and Santa Paula.
| Event | Location | 2026 dates | Cost as listed | In Ojai? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ojai Fall Fest | St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church, 185 St. Thomas Drive | September 11 to 13 | Free admission and parking; rides, games, food, and drinks extra | Yes |
| Boccali Ranch Pumpkin Patch | 3277 E. Ojai Avenue | October 3 to 31, daily, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. | Free entry; dog-friendly | Yes |
| Boccali’s Tomato Festival | 3277 E. Ojai Avenue | A Saturday in September (2026 edition: September 21) | 2026 listing: $38 buffet, $20 wine tasting; confirm 2026 | Yes |
| Pixie Tangerine Month | Participating Ojai businesses | April; exact dates follow the harvest | Varies by business | Yes |
| Underwood Family Farms Fall Harvest Festival | 3370 Sunset Valley Road, Moorpark | September 26 to October 31, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. | Weekday $16 at the gate; weekend $25 to $30 online | No, Moorpark |
| Prancer’s Farm Fall Fest | 18540 East Telegraph Road, Santa Paula | September 26 to November 1, weekends 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. | Confirm with the farm | No, Santa Paula |
If you only have one weekend, start with the two Ojai entries. The Boccali patch is the easiest to fit around other plans because it runs daily for a full month. Ojai Fall Fest is a three-day window and rewards a firm plan.
What Harvest Festivals Happen in Ojai During Fall?
Ojai’s fall harvest events are community-scale gatherings centered on a church campus and a family ranch on the East End, not the sprawling corn-maze operations found in Moorpark. Three fall options are worth knowing: Ojai Fall Fest, the Boccali Ranch Pumpkin Patch, and Boccali’s Tomato Festival.
Ojai Fall Fest, September 11 to 13
The 2026 listing places Ojai Fall Fest at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church, 185 St. Thomas Drive, over three days with carnival rides, live music, vendors, and festival food. Expect a community carnival. If you want farm-to-table cooking, look to Boccali’s instead.
Go for the music and the rides if you have kids between roughly toddler and early teen age. Skip it if you are hoping for orchard tours or wine pours; nothing in the listing points that direction.
Boccali Ranch Pumpkin Patch, October 3 to 31
The patch at 3277 E. Ojai Avenue runs daily from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Pumpkins range from tiny to extra-large “Big Mac” sizes, alongside squash, gourds, Indian corn, and seasonal produce. Entry is free and dog-friendly, with hay wagon rides on weekends.
This is the one to pick for a short, low-cost visit. Weekday afternoons are the calmer window; weekends are when the hay wagon runs, so choose based on whether you want quiet or the ride.
Boccali’s Tomato Festival, a September Saturday
Boccali’s own Tomato Festival page describes a Harvest Festival and Wine Tasting on Ojai’s scenic East End: an all-you-can-eat buffet of tomato entrees and Boccali favorites, local Ojai Valley wines to sample, and a produce stand stocked from Boccali Ranch. The page lists general admission at $38, including buffet, non-alcoholic drinks, tax, and tip, with buffet service from 5 to 7 p.m.
Wine tasting is listed separately at $20, sold at the door. One caution: that page describes the 21st annual event on Saturday, September 21, and was updated in 2026. Treat those figures as last known, and check the official Tomato Festival page or call the restaurant for the 2026 date and price.
What Is Included at Ojai Fall Fest, and Where Do You Buy Tickets?
Ojai Fall Fest is a three-day carnival-style community festival with free admission and free parking, according to the 2026 listing. You do not need an entry ticket. You pay on site for rides, games, food, and drinks.
That structure changes how you budget. A family of four can walk in and browse vendors and live music at no cost, then decide how much to spend at the ride and food booths. Carnival-style events often sell tickets or wristbands at the gate, but the listing does not specify the format, so ask the organizers what payment methods they accept.
Bring a card and some cash, since small vendors at community festivals sometimes prefer one or the other. Arrive early on Saturday for an easy parking spot, and expect the food lines to peak around mealtimes.
What Are the Best Family-Friendly Harvest Events Near Ojai This Fall?
Family-friendly harvest events near Ojai include the free Boccali Ranch patch inside town and two larger farm festivals in neighboring communities: Underwood Family Farms in Moorpark and Prancer’s Farm in Santa Paula. The larger farms offer more activities per visit, but you must drive to reach them.
Underwood Family Farms, Moorpark
Underwood’s Fall Harvest Festival is a 50-acre event, open 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily from September 26 through October 31, 2026. Listings mention a pumpkin patch, tractor-drawn wagon rides, a corn maze, a giant tractor display, hay pyramids, and an animal center.
Pricing has a real weekday advantage. Weekday admission is listed at $16 at the gate, versus $25 to $30 per person for weekends bought online. Verify current pricing on the Underwood Family Farms website. If your group can visit on a weekday, the savings for a family of four are noticeable.
Prancer’s Farm, Santa Paula
Prancer’s Fall Fest is listed at 18540 East Telegraph Road from September 26 to November 1, 2026, with weekend pumpkin-patch hours of 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The activity list includes a 10-acre pumpkin patch, a wagon hay ride, an animal center, a corn field expedition, farm games, and live entertainment.
Two themed weekends are worth circling: “Fiesta at the Farm” on October 17 and 18, and “Harvest at the Farm” on October 24 and 25. One listing also mentions a railbike ride through citrus groves to the farm on October weekends; confirm that with the farm before building a day around it.
Which one fits which age?
For toddlers, Boccali Ranch is the better pick: free, short, and dog-friendly. Kids around school age and up will get more out of Underwood or Prancer’s, where the corn maze, farm games, and animal centers fill several hours. Farm terrain is typically uneven, so call each venue about stroller and wheelchair access before you go.
Where Can You Find Fall Food and Wine Events Around Ojai?
Fall food and wine events around Ojai are led by Boccali’s Tomato Festival, which pairs a tomato-focused buffet with tastings of local Ojai Valley wines at a working ranch on the East End. Beyond that, event calendars change yearly, so verify current listings.
If you are searching for the Ojai Food + Wine event specifically, we do not have confirmed 2026 details for it. The Ojai Visitors site is the safest place to check dates and ticketing, since event organizers tend to update it first.
For dinners around your festival day, our guide to Ojai dining for date nights and big group tables covers table options for different party sizes. If you’d rather stay in, you can arrange a private chef through yhangry for brunches, multi-course dinners, or BBQ and grilled feasts. A harvest weekend pairs well with a long grilled dinner at the fire pit.
When Is Ojai’s Pixie Tangerine Harvest, and Does It Count as a Festival?
Ojai Pixie Tangerine Month is an annual April celebration of the valley’s signature Pixie tangerine harvest. The fruit is harvested in April and can turn up from March through May, while local businesses offer Pixie-themed food, drinks, spa treatments, hotel packages, activities, and shopping.
It reads more like a month of participating businesses than a single gated event. That is a plus if you want flexibility: you can stop at a farm stand, order a Pixie drink downtown, and skip crowds. The festival date depends on the harvest, so the next one arrives in spring 2027, not this fall.
Our own orchard includes pixie tangerine trees alongside Meyer and Eureka lemons, oranges, pomegranates, a Hachiya persimmon tree, and macadamia nut trees. We cannot promise what is ripe on your dates, but guests staying in April will be surrounded by the season. The orchard stay guide explains what daily life on the property looks like.
What Are Some Fun Things to Do in Ojai This Weekend Beyond the Festivals?
Fun things to do in Ojai on any weekend include farm stands and markets, the Ojai Valley Trail, and a walk down Ojai Avenue in the downtown core. Festival calendars change, but these options stay available year-round.
For harvest-minded browsing, look up Ojai Roots Farmshop, Frog Creek Farm, and the Ojai Certified Farmers Market. We have not verified their current hours or offerings, so call or check each website before you go. For a broader events calendar, Ventura County Local lists what is happening this weekend and which events are free.
From Ojai Vacation Home, the Ojai Valley Trail is 0.3 miles away (about a 5-minute walk), and the Limoneira Company Historic Groves are 0.8 miles away (about 3 minutes by car). Ojai Avenue downtown is 1.2 miles (about 4 minutes), and Meditation Mount is 2.1 miles (about 6 minutes). If you want a gentle morning walk before festival crowds build, our guide to Ojai Meadows Preserve’s flat trails is a good starting point.
How Do You Tell an Ojai Festival From One in a Neighboring Town?
An Ojai festival is an event whose address is inside the Ojai Valley, while regional harvest events in Moorpark, Santa Paula, Camarillo, or Simi Valley are neighboring-town options that share a county but not a drive time. Checking the address is the fastest way to tell them apart.
Many regional guides mix these together. One Ventura County guide, for example, measures Underwood’s distance from central Camarillo, not from Ojai, so its drive-time estimate does not transfer to your trip. Use a map app from your rental to get a realistic time, and add a cushion for weekend farm traffic.
Three details other guides skip
First, year-checking: the only Boccali Tomato Festival details available are from 2026, so do not assume the 2026 date or price still applies. Second, accessibility and age suitability are rarely spelled out, so ask organizers about strollers and mobility needs, plus pet rules. Third, parking: Ojai Fall Fest lists free parking, but lot capacity is not stated, so arrive early.
Treat any date from a third-party listing as provisional until an organizer confirms it. A two-minute call beats a wasted afternoon.
Where Should You Stay for a Harvest Weekend Near Ojai?
Ojai Vacation Home is a private, county-permitted vacation rental on almost two acres of working citrus and avocado orchard on Ojai’s East End, on the same side of the valley as Boccali Ranch and 1.2 miles (about 4 minutes) from downtown Ojai Avenue. The property is nicknamed Pixie Palace by past guests.
The larger configuration of Ojai Vacation Home has 2 to 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms and sleeps up to 5 guests; a one-bedroom option sleeps 3. The whole rental is for exclusive guest use, with a full kitchen, indoor and outdoor dining, an 8-foot redwood hot tub, a clay tennis court, ping pong, hammocks, and a fire pit. The property is pet friendly, and its EV charger helps for driving out to Moorpark or Santa Paula.
Timing helps festival planning. Check-in is at 4:00 p.m. and check-out is at 11 a.m., so the Boccali patch (open until 7 p.m.) fits neatly on an arrival evening. The property does not allow parties or smoking, which suits families and small groups better than large celebrations.
A Friday to Sunday stay suits most harvest weekends, and popular fall weekends may fill earlier than you expect. Check current dates and pricing on the booking page, since rates change.
Every short-term vacation rental in Ventura County, including Ojai, needs a county permit to operate legally, and unpermitted rentals risk being shut down. Ours is legally permitted through Ventura County. You can compare neighborhoods in our guide to where to stay in Ojai, or check availability at Ojai Vacation Home.
How Do You Plan a Harvest Weekend Around Ojai’s Festivals?
Planning a harvest weekend around Ojai’s festivals means matching your dates to the event window, verifying details with organizers, and keeping the Ojai-based events at the center of your itinerary. The steps below work for a typical two- or three-night stay.
- Pick your weekend by event: September 11 to 13 for Ojai Fall Fest, September 26 onward for Underwood and Prancer’s, and October 3 onward for the Boccali patch.
- Confirm dates, hours, and pricing with each organizer, especially for Boccali’s Tomato Festival, where the published details are from 2026.
- Anchor the trip with an Ojai event, then add one farm festival outside the valley only if you have a full day.
- Choose a weekday for Underwood if budget matters; the listed weekday rate is $16 versus $25 to $30 on weekends.
- Leave an evening open for the orchard: hot tub, fire pit, or a private chef dinner arranged through yhangry.
- Bring a card, some cash, layers for cooler evenings, and shoes that can handle farm dirt.
The most common mistakes are treating a Moorpark event as an Ojai one, trusting last year’s price, and stacking two farm festivals in one day. One good festival per day, with orchard downtime after, tends to feel better than a packed schedule.
The Bottom Line on Seasonal Harvest Festivals Near Ojai
The seasonal harvest festivals near Ojai are compact and community-scaled: Ojai Fall Fest (September 11 to 13), the free Boccali Ranch Pumpkin Patch (October 3 to 31), Boccali’s Tomato Festival on a September Saturday, and Pixie Tangerine Month each April. Underwood Family Farms and Prancer’s Farm add bigger farm experiences a drive away.
Confirm every date with an organizer, weigh weekday pricing where it applies, and keep at least one evening free to enjoy the East End’s slower pace. Spring 2027’s Pixie season is the next harvest to watch. If a quiet orchard stay sounds like what your group needs, the East End property is a good place to return to at the end of the day.
If you are planning a harvest weekend, Ojai Vacation Home puts you among pixie tangerine trees on the East End, a few minutes from the festivals inside town. See current dates and details here.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are there vacation rentals or houses available for lodging in Ojai, California?
Yes. Ojai Vacation Home is a private, county-permitted vacation rental on Ojai’s East End, with a larger 2 to 3 bedroom configuration that sleeps up to 5 and a one-bedroom option that sleeps 3. The whole house is for exclusive guest use. Check current availability on the official booking page.
What harvest festivals happen in Ojai during fall?
Ojai Fall Fest runs September 11 to 13, 2026, at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church. The Boccali Ranch Pumpkin Patch is open daily from October 3 to 31, and Boccali’s Tomato Festival is held on a September Saturday. Confirm the 2026 Tomato Festival date, since the published details are from 2026.
Where can I buy tickets for Ojai Fall Fest?
Admission and parking are listed as free, so you do not need an entry ticket. You pay on site for rides, games, food, and drinks. Ask the organizers what payment methods and ride-ticket formats they use.
Is the Boccali Ranch Pumpkin Patch free?
Entry is described as free and dog-friendly, with hay wagon rides on weekends. The patch is at 3277 E. Ojai Avenue and is open daily from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., October 3 to 31, 2026. Pumpkins and produce are priced separately.
What are the best family-friendly harvest events near Ojai?
Boccali Ranch suits toddlers and short visits. Underwood Family Farms in Moorpark and Prancer’s Farm in Santa Paula offer corn mazes, wagon rides, and animal centers for a longer day. Both are outside Ojai, so check drive time from your rental first.
When is Ojai’s Pixie tangerine season?
Pixie tangerines are harvested in April and can be found from March through May. Ojai Pixie Tangerine Month happens each April, with dates tied to the harvest. The next one comes in spring 2027.
Is Ojai Vacation Home pet friendly, and can it host a private chef dinner?
Yes, the property is pet friendly, and the Boccali patch is dog-friendly too. Ask about pet terms when you book. Private chef dining can be arranged through yhangry for brunches, multi-course dinners, or BBQ and grilled feasts.
Content powered by inkSTR.co