Vala’s: How to Make the Fall Season Fantastic!

On this episode, Traveling with Terriers visits Vala’s Pumpkin Patch and Apple Orchard in Gretna, Nebraska where they make the entire fall season fantastic!

Posted By Jess

Vala’s – Who? What? Where?

Vala’s Pumpkin Patch and Apple Orchard is located outside of Omaha, Nebraska in the small town of Gretna. It was started by Tim Vala and his wife Jan and is currently owned by Tim and his three daughters, Kirsten, Kyla and Kelsey. When Danny and I visited, we had the opportunity to spend some time with Tim and learn more about the history of Vala’s. It was neat to see that what started out 40 years ago as a small pumpkin patch, a tractor, and Tim singlehandedly running it has turned into a 400 acre operation, 55 acres of which are pumpkins, and over 100 employees to serve the visitors who come each fall.

Is Vala’s Just for Adults?

Not at all! In fact, Vala’s is geared toward the entire family. A lot of our Vala’s video shows you what activities are available. There are plenty for both adults and children. Unfortunately, we didn’t have enough time to show you everything. For instance, there is a really cool train ride that you will see us walking by in the video. This train ride takes the riders past a restored old western town complete with animatronic inhabitants. When Danny and I were there several years ago, they were in the process of restoring the old town so we didn’t get to see it on our train ride. This time, we didn’t have the opportunity to ride the train.

There are also several rides and activities for kids to do. In the video, you saw footage of the beautifully hand painted carousel. This barely scratched the surface of the kid friendly activities that Vala’s has to offer. Everything from a haunted house to walk through, an egg throwing house, the “Scrambled Egg” spinning ride and a roller coaster are all available for children of all ages to participate in.

While there’s lots of activities at Vala’s for the young’uns, there’s plenty for the adults to do, too. The tractor rides out to the pumpkin patch and apple orchards where you can “pick your own” apples would be perfect for that “Hallmark movie” date night, and there are plenty of areas for shopping, flower picking, eating and drinking.

Speaking of Eating and Drinking…

Tim spent part of his time with us explaining how Vala’s chooses what to add each year. The Vala daughters are all foodies and/or trained chefs, so food and drink are an important part of the Vala’s experience. Every dish served from the Pie Barn (yep, a whole BARN filled with pies and places to sit and eat them), Grandma’s Kitchen and the Cider Mill are created with a good dining experience in mind. Even if you eat and drink your fill while visiting Vala’s, you can still take some delicious treats home to enjoy later!

Some of our Vala’s favorites foods are their pies, the fried chicken dinner, and the apple cider donuts. Danny’s favorite drink was the Cherry Fizz Hard Cider, which is cured in a whiskey barrel until it’s just right. Vala’s Witches Brew is always a hit with everyone in our family. In fact, we even brought some bottles of it back with us for everyone in Cheyenne!

Vala’s History?

One of the hardest things to do when you are making a video is to cut out content. A lot of the footage we cut from this video was the history of Vala’s and how Tim came to possess a lot of the buildings and attractions on the property. Disappointed that we couldn’t include more, I thought this would be a great place to tell you more about what we learned from Tim.

Humble Beginnings

When Tim started Vala’s, he had a tractor and wagon, a pumpkin patch and a few barns. Each fall, local families would come to Vala’s to get pumpkins. Tim would load as many visitors as he could on his wagon parked in front of the barn, drive them out to the pumpkin patch, let them pick their pumpkins, load them back up, drive back to the barn, unload and weigh each of their pumpkins and have them pay. He would then start the entire process over again with the next group of visitors.

After a while, Tim noticed that children waiting for their turn would make a game out of jumping off the loading chute that sat nearby. The wagon rides and that loading chute were the first attractions at Vala’s. The barn is still there and still in use, as are the tractors and wagons. They just have more of them these days.

The Pie Barn

The Pie Barn also has an interesting story behind it. Tim got the barn from a man who fought in WWII as a pilot for the B-22 bombers. One night on a bombing run, the man’s plane was hit and exploded. He was able to bail out, but most of the men he flew with were not. He ended up being in a POW camp for the rest of the war. Upon his release after the war, he came home and farmed a nearby property. Many years later, Tim acquired his barn and moved it onto the Vala’s property. At that point, the barn was so short you could stand on the floor and reach up and touch the hayloft! So, they raised it and remodeled it. Today it’s the Pie Barn where they make amazing pies, soups and sandwiches for visitors of Vala’s.

Preserving Local and Family History

Tim and his daughters feel very strongly about preserving both local history and family history. Many of the rides are named after family members. And many of the buildings and attractions were moved from nearby farms onto the property, remodeled and repurposed. They even remade the old loading chute which is still one of the most popular parts of the property!

Sounds Great! What’s Next?

One of the great things about Vala’s is that it’s about a day drive from a whole lot of places. We can typically make it to the Omaha area in a day coming from Cheyenne, or from the eastern side of Missouri. This means that if you live near any of those areas Vala’s is pretty accessible for a long weekend trip! This year they are celebrating their 40th Anniversary and have a lot of special events happening throughout the fall. If Vala’s isn’t in the cards this year, we encourage you to think about making the trip next fall. They are usually open from the first week of September through October 31st!

As for what’s next for us here at Traveling with Terriers, we have some great new videos coming soon! Continuing with the fall theme that we started with Vala’s we will have some more Travel-a-Longs and Behind-the Scenes Blogs of our fall trip to Missouri, a special “Missouri in the Fall” Drive-a-Long. More Hike-a-Longs and Top 5 Tips and Tricks videos are also in the works. Be watching for videos featuring our new terrier, Louie, and footage of our first international trip to Canada coming soon! Finally, just in time for the holidays we will (fingers crossed!) have our Merch Store up and running. Thank you so much for reading and watching and Happy Traveling!