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Houston Pumpkin Festival 2026

Downtown Houston’s pumpkin festival fills Discovery Green with pumpkin displays, boats on the lake and rides until 8 November. Here’s what it costs, when to go and where to park, checked against the festival’s and the park’s own pages on 21 September 2026.

Runs
19 Sep – 8 Nov
Mon–Thu
$18
Fri–Sun
$28
Age 3 and under
Free

2026 at a glance

  • DatesSaturday 19 September to Sunday 8 November 2026, every day
  • HoursMonday to Thursday 3pm–11pm; Friday to Sunday 10am–11pm. Gates can close up to an hour early to clear the queue
  • Tickets$18 Monday to Thursday, $28 Friday to Sunday. Children 3 and under free
  • What's includedThe boats and rides. Food is sold separately
  • BuyingOnline, in advance. Discovery Green says all tickets are sold online; the festival's own site says walk-up entry depends on capacity
  • WhereDiscovery Green, 1500 McKinney St, downtown Houston
  • ContactNo phone published. Email info@houstonpumpkinfest.com

What’s there

Everything below is included in the ticket except food.

  • Bumper boats
  • Cruiser boats
  • Carousel
  • 30-foot slide
  • Jumpkin' Pumpkin
  • Tree Net Climber
  • Sunflower Walk
  • Pumpkin Houses
  • Cinderella's Carriage
  • Doors of Wonder
  • Giant Pin Art
  • Massive Yellow Duck
  • Pink Trees of Life
  • Butterfly Chair
  • Piggly Wiggles

Before you go

When is the Houston Pumpkin Festival in 2026?

From Saturday 19 September to Sunday 8 November 2026, open every day. Weekdays (Monday to Thursday) it opens at 3pm; Friday to Sunday it opens at 10am. It closes at 11pm every night.

How much are tickets?

$18 per person Monday to Thursday and $28 Friday to Sunday. Friday counts as a weekend day. Children 3 and under get in free. The ticket covers the boats and rides; food is extra.

Is it a pumpkin patch?

Not a pick-your-own one. It's a ticketed festival in a downtown park, with pumpkins used as displays and photo backdrops, plus rides and boats on the lake. Whether you can buy a pumpkin to take home isn't stated anywhere on the festival's site. If picking your own is the point, see the patches listed below.

What happens if it rains?

The festival lets you reuse a rained-off ticket: a weekday ($18) ticket on any other weekday, a weekend ($28) ticket on any other day, up to the last day.

Where do you park?

The Avenida Central garage by the park is closed for construction. Discovery Green points visitors to the Avenida North Garage (701 Avenida de las Americas, across from the George R. Brown Convention Center), the surface lot at 1515 Rusk Street, and metered street parking on La Branch. Prices aren't published for the festival. The simplest option is METRORail: the Green and Purple lines stop at Convention District, next to the park.

Want to pick your own pumpkin?

These are the closest real patches to downtown, all checked with the farm:

More in free pumpkin patch Houston and the full Houston list.

The full listing

How these were checked

Each listing was built from the farm's own website, calendar and ticket pages, then confirmed by email where those pages disagreed with one another. The date of that check sits on every listing above.

Dates, hours and prices come from the festival’s own site and Discovery Green’s festival page; parking and transit from the park’s parking page. The two sites disagree on walk-up tickets, so this page tells you both. The festival publishes no phone number, and its email is the only contact.

Spot something that has gone stale? Say so and it gets fixed.

Pumpkin patches by town

Farms sit outside the city limits, so a farm often appears on several town pages. Same checked data on each.