Carolyn's Pumpkin Patch

Carolyn’s Pumpkin Patch — for most of its life known as Carolyn’s Country Cousins — is an 80-acre working farm northeast of Liberty that Carolyn and Buddy Raasch turned into a pumpkin patch in 1991. It began as a single barn and grew into one of the oldest and best-known fall destinations in the Kansas City area: hayrides out to the pumpkin fields, an antique carousel, a small railroad, a petting barn, and weekend pig races. The idea came from the Raasches’ years selling vegetables at farmers’ markets, where they kept meeting families who had lost any connection to farm life.

Description

Carolyn’s Pumpkin Patch is a seasonal fall attraction on a working farm at 17607 NE 52nd Street, northeast of Liberty in Clay County. It operates only in autumn, and within that window it is among the largest and longest-running pumpkin operations in the metro.

The farm is 80 acres. Roughly 60 of those are genuinely farmed — pumpkins, corn and soybeans — with about 20 acres given over to the visitor side.¹ That ratio is the substance of the place: the attractions sit on a real farm rather than a farm-themed lot, which is what the Raasches set out to build.

The visitor offering has accumulated over three and a half decades. Hayrides run out to the pumpkin fields. There is an antique country carousel, a small-gauge railroad known as Little Bud’s Railroad, and a petting barn.¹ On Saturdays and Sundays the schedule fills out with Uncle Lester’s Pig Races, live sets by local musicians, and photo opportunities with the Pumpkin Princess.¹ The operation also has a presence in the regional haunted-attraction circuit.²

The business now markets primarily as Carolyn’s Pumpkin Patch, but the original name — Carolyn’s Country Cousins — remains in wide local use and is still the name carried by most directory listings and by the Clay County tourism bureau.³⁴

Goods and services

• Pick-your-own pumpkins — the core offering, with hayrides out to the fields¹
• Antique Country Carousel¹
• Little Bud’s Railroad — a small-gauge train ride¹
• Petting Barn¹
• Uncle Lester’s Pig Races — Saturdays and Sundays¹
• Live local musicians — weekends¹
• Photo opportunities with the Pumpkin Princess — weekends¹
• Row crops — corn and soybeans farmed on the balance of the 80 acres¹

History

Carolyn and Buddy Raasch established the pumpkin patch in 1991.¹ The idea grew out of the family’s farming background and their experience selling fresh vegetables at local farmers’ markets: in conversation with customers they found that many families had lost their connection to rural life, and they set out to make a place where that connection could be recovered.¹

It started small — the farm’s own account describes a one-barn pumpkin patch — and grew over thirty-five seasons into a full fall agritourism destination, adding the carousel, the railroad, the petting barn and the weekend programming.¹ By the 2020s it was being described as one of the Kansas City area’s oldest and most cherished autumn destinations.¹

The transition in public branding from “Carolyn’s Country Cousins” to “Carolyn’s Pumpkin Patch” is visible in the domain name and current marketing, but the date of that change and the reason for it were not established in this pass.

Sources

Links

• Website: https://carolynspumpkinpatch.com/
• About the farm: https://carolynspumpkinpatch.com/about-the-farm/
• Visit Clay County listing: https://www.visitclaymo.com/business/carolyns-country-cousins-pumpkin-patch
• PumpkinPatches.com listing: https://www.pumpkinpatches.com/carolynscountrycousins

Footnotes

1. Carolyn’s Pumpkin Patch — official site, “About The Farm” — asserts: the patch, originally known as Carolyn’s Country Cousins, was established in 1991 by Carolyn and Buddy Raasch; it has grown into one of the Kansas City area’s oldest and most cherished autumn destinations; the idea came from the Raasch family’s love of farming and their experience selling fresh vegetables at local farmers’ markets, where they found many families had lost their connection to rural life; the farm is 80 acres, beginning with approximately 60 acres of pumpkins, corn and soybeans and 20 acres for family entertainment; it grew from a one-barn pumpkin patch into a fall agritourism destination with hayrides to the pumpkin fields, an antique Country Carousel, Little Bud’s Railroad and a Petting Barn; Saturdays and Sundays feature Uncle Lester’s Pig Races, live local musicians and photo opportunities with the Pumpkin Princess. (Content accessed via search-surfaced summary — the page is truncation-gated to direct fetch; see method note.) ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵

2. Missouri Haunted Houses — Carolyn’s Country Cousins Pumpkin Patch — asserts: the farm appears in the Missouri seasonal haunted-attraction listings, indicating an evening or haunt-side program alongside the daytime patch. Scope and current status of that program not established. ↩

3. Visit Clay County Missouri (Clay County tourism bureau) — Carolyn’s Country Cousins Pumpkin Patch listing — asserts: the business is a current listed Clay County visitor attraction under the Country Cousins name. (Direct fetch returned HTTP 403; listed here as a resolvable pointer and a currency signal, not as the source of any specific claim on this page.) ↩

4. Yelp — Carolyn’s Country Cousins Pumpkin Patch business listing — asserts: address 17607 NE 52nd St, Liberty, Missouri; listing active and updated through 2026, corroborating current operation. A companion produce listing sits at yelp.com (updated August 2026). Aggregator — used only for the street address and as a recency signal, never as the website field. ↩