On a Saturday afternoon in October, the corn maze at Dawning Day Farm on NE 156th Street isn't open yet. The gate opens at 4:30 p.m. and stays open until 9 p.m. A few miles south on NE 119th Street, Bi-Zi Farms stops letting new visitors in at 5:00 p.m. and then starts its nighttime maze after 6. Neither farm is being contrary. Their hours happen to fit together, and that matters more than any ranking of which patch is best.
Bi-Zi opened for its first weekend on Sept. 26 and 27. The full season starts tomorrow, Thursday, Oct. 1. From that point the farms near Brush Prairie divide the week between them, so every day of October has a farm open, and the best choice changes from day to day.
Who Is Open When
Three patches carry most of October near Brush Prairie, and each one keeps a different week.
Bi-Zi Farms, 9504 NE 119th St., is open Oct. 1 through 31 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and closed every Monday. Tickets are sold online only, in 30-minute timeslots, and the last slot is 4:30 p.m. Admission is $16 for ages 3 and up, or $14 for seniors 62 and older and qualifying military. It includes a wagon ride, one pumpkin to take home and the daytime corn maze. One thing to check before you go: the farm's page lists Oct. 31 as the last day, but its ticket page only shows dates through Oct. 30. If you're planning on Halloween itself, look for a timeslot before you promise anyone a trip.
Dawning Day Farm, 9631 NE 156th St., opens in October only. It runs Sunday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday from 4:30 to 9 p.m. The farm has not posted a dated 2026 calendar, so treat its schedule as "October" and not a specific first or last day. There's no admission or parking fee. You pay for what you do: $8 per person for the corn maze, free for ages 2 and under, $4 for unlimited tractor-train rides, and $2 to $25 for carving pumpkins.
Velvet Acres Gardens runs the Vancouver Pumpkin Patch at 18905 NE 83rd St. It's open Tuesday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., through the end of October. You'll find pumpkin U-pick, a corn maze and hayrides, with admission at $10 Tuesday through Friday and $12 on Saturday and Sunday.
Here's how those schedules line up across a week:
- Monday: Dawning Day is the only one of the three that's open. Bi-Zi and Velvet Acres are both closed.
- Tuesday through Thursday: All three are open during the day. Velvet Acres charges its lower weekday price.
- Friday: All three are open during the day, and Bi-Zi's nighttime maze adds an evening option.
- Saturday: Bi-Zi and Velvet Acres run in the daytime, and Dawning Day opens in the evening.
- Sunday: All three are open during the day. Velvet Acres is back at its $12 weekend price, and Dawning Day returns to daytime hours.
If you have a free Monday off school or work, the plan is already made for you.
Saturday Is the Day That Rewards a Plan
On Saturdays the hours fit together most neatly. A Bi-Zi daytime ticket also covers the nighttime corn maze on Friday and Saturday evenings, as long as you come back the same day after 6 p.m. The night maze runs from Friday, Oct. 2, through Friday, Oct. 30.
Dawning Day's Saturday hours start in the late afternoon, which leaves the middle of the day open. A family could book a midday slot at Bi-Zi, take a break, and then head to Dawning Day after 4:30 p.m. for the maze and the tractor train, paying only for what they do. You could also skip the second farm and use the Bi-Zi ticket again after dark. Either way, one Saturday can hold a daytime farm and an evening farm without the two competing for the same hours.
Buy the Bi-Zi ticket ahead of time. The farm sells tickets online only, and the entrance gate closes at 5:00 p.m. each day.
The Weekend of Oct. 17 and 18
The third weekend of October brings the season's one big community event near Brush Prairie. It also changes the road you might drive to get there.
Silver Buckle Youth Equestrian Center holds its Halloween Carnival on Saturday, Oct. 17, from 2 to 4 p.m. at 11611 NE 152nd Ave. Admission is $10 per person. There are carnival games, sack races, cookie decorating, a costume contest and a horse costume contest, and you can meet the program horses. The center notes the carnival usually falls on the third Saturday in October and asks guests to dress for the weather because everything happens outside.
On that same NE 152nd Avenue, Clark County is in the last months of a corridor project between NE Padden Parkway and NE 99th Street. The project widens the road with one travel lane in each direction and adds bike lanes, sidewalks, two flashing pedestrian crossing beacons and a new traffic signal at NE 99th Street. The closure between NE 93rd and NE 99th Street is scheduled through Oct. 17, the day of the carnival. On Sunday, Oct. 18, the work moves to the intersection of NE 152nd Avenue and NE 99th Street, which is scheduled to stay closed until Jan. 18, 2027.
The County's August update came with one specific instruction:
"Northeast 150th Avenue will also be closed to through traffic. Do not use Northeast 150th Avenue as a detour around the construction."
During the August phase, NE 99th Street stayed open for east-west traffic. The intersection closure on Oct. 18 is the change that matters for anyone who uses 99th to cross 152nd. Any part of the corridor that isn't fully closed is limited to local access, and through traffic has to take other routes. Once it's finished, the intersection will have a left-turn lane on each of its four legs along with the new signal, and the County expects the whole corridor to be done by early 2027. The construction budget is $9,895,000. If you're driving to the carnival from the south, check the County's project page that week. Changes to closures are posted there, on the County's social media and on signs in the work zone.
Out on NE 182nd, the Roadwork Is Already Done
East of Brush Prairie, this summer's other roadwork has mostly wrapped up. The NE 182nd Avenue and NE Risto Road project replaced that junction with a roundabout, flattened the curve at NE 199th Street and NE Risto Road, and repaved NE 199th to the Salmon Creek bridge. Clark County now lists it as substantially complete. Construction was originally scheduled to run through fall 2026.
O'Keefe Farms is on that same road, at 17604 NE 182nd Ave. It held its 2026 Sunflower Festival over two August weekends. The fields are closed to the public, but the roadside bouquet stand is open 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. That makes it an easy stop on the way home from a patch, and now that summer's closures are done, the drive is simpler.
Two Dates at Prairie Tavern
Prairie Tavern, 14925 NE Caples Road, has two public dates on the October calendar. Memory Cafe meets Friday, Oct. 2, from 10 a.m. to noon. It's free and repeats on the first Friday of each month for people living with dementia and their caregivers. The Hockinson Hornets Get Together is in the banquet room on Friday, Oct. 23, from noon to 5 p.m., according to The Reflector's community calendar.
What Won't Be Open This Fall
Two projects near Brush Prairie are still on their way. Prairie View Station is the food-cart pod and Trap Door Brewing beer hall planned near WinCo, around NE 119th Street and NE 112th Avenue. When The Reflector first reported it in November 2025, it gave a summer 2026 target. A September 2026 report from New School Beer describes the 42,000-square-foot project as scheduled for 2027. Trap Door owner Bryan Shull told the outlet that "plans for the Brush Prairie food cart park are moving along nicely." The same report says Trap Door's uptown Vancouver pub on Main Street closes today, Sept. 30, and Vice Beer takes over the space. The Washougal brewery and restaurant keep running as usual.
The Gordy Jolma Family Natural Area, at 15051 NE 181st St., is also still in planning. Clark County and the Cowlitz Indian Tribe have been working on restoration and trail plans for the site. The County lists design as running from 2024 to 2026 and hasn't announced a construction start date.
For this October, then, the plan comes down to the farms and their hours: Dawning Day on Mondays, Bi-Zi by day and after dark on Fridays and Saturdays, Velvet Acres at its weekday price, Silver Buckle on Oct. 17, and a different route across NE 152nd starting Oct. 18.
Karen Higgins has lived in Clark County for more than 30 years and keeps track of the roadwork and openings that shape daily life around Brush Prairie. If the NE 152nd project or Prairie View Station has you wondering how changes like these affect homes nearby, ask Karen for a free home valuation and local market consultation.
