Note: not currently offered, in 2019

Fall is a time for corn mazes, apple picking, pumpkin carving, seeing the colors change, and eating fresh, seasonal food. It’s also a great time to travel to do all these things, so as to expand said fall activities. So imagine my great joy at finding a scavenger hunt for fall in Stratford, Ontario. Now, I already love Stratford for so many things – plenty of art, an incredible food scene, shopping par excellence, swans and gardens, and, of course, the theatre, but their Pumpkin Trail, which runs in the fall, is pure genius. Let me tell you why.

Visit Stratford has put together a series of trails for visitors – the Bacon and Ale Trail, the Chocolate Trail, and the Pumpkin Trail. In the spring, make sure to plan for the Maple Trail (yum!). What do you do on said trail? (Hint: go on ALL of them. Trust me, it’s so much fun). It’s a scavenger hunt through lovely downtown Stratford, exploring businesses, making new friends, and GETTING TREATS! I loved learning about all of the businesses on this self-guided tour, as well – it was a whole new way to experience Stratford. Looking for a place to stay in Stratford? We have stayed in many different places in town - click here for best hotel and B&B rates and availability. 

“The Savour Stratford Pumpkin Trail is a fun way to spend your day out in Stratford. Offerings this year are quite diverse and we hope that participants will be tempted to explore new stops that they will want to visit again. Being a seasonal trail, plan your trail experience before the end of October when our pumpkin cravings become pumpkin carvings,” states Cathy Rehberg, Marketing Manager for Stratford Tourism Alliance. 

November 1 Pumpkin Parade
 
Right after Halloween, everyone is invited to bring their carved pumpkins to Veterans Drive where they have a second life, and everyone is encouraged to stroll along the street and see the pumpkins glowing from tea-lights, on the Annual Pumpkin Parade on November 1. At the end of the evening, the pumpkins are loaded up and delivered to a farm with Wild Boar so they can enjoy the treat and the pumpkins are diverted from the landfill. It is a great event that featured 1,400 pumpkins on display last year.

So hard to choose! Here are the items available on the Pumpkin Trail

Here’s how you do it:

Start at the Visit Stratford Office, located smack dab in the middle of downtown at 47 Downie Street.  Now, I will tell you to plan a bit of time at the tourist office, because there’s so much good stuff there, including experts with advice on everything under the sun regarding Stratford, and swan food. Here, you can also buy your ticket for the Pumpkin Trail. Each ticket costs $25, and offers you 6 passes to get unique pumpkin goodies along the trail. There are 26 Pumpkin Trail opportunities, so you’ll have to read the brochure (or website, if you like to plan ahead) to see which lovely pumpkin items you’d like to discover for yourself. The brochure has a clear map that shows each location on the Pumpkin Trail.

Then you have to decide – this is the hard part! Perhaps you want a delicious and creative pumpkin dessert, as we ate at Revival House. There are pumpkin treats galore to choose from, including pumpkin spice liqueur, warm pumpkin tart, pumpkin apple butter, pumpkin fudge, pumpkin tea (2 kinds!), pumpkin peanut brittle, pumpkin spice coffee beans, and pumpkin napkins. So we perused the brochure, circled our choices, and headed out. For the most part, all of the stores are within a few blocks of each other, right downtown. So it’s very easy to make a game of this! 

Here’s the unexpected pleasure. As adults, we don’t often get to do a scavenger hunt, let alone one with goodies at the end. This is a scavenger hunt that introduces you to local Stratford, with interesting shop owners and waiters. It’s the perfect reward for curious (and hungry) travelers. 

So, want to see our Pumpkin Trail?

Let’s start with the chocolate shop, because, well, chocolate. Rheo Thompson is a favorite of everyone who visits Stratford. Their chocolates are divine. Their displays are creative, and it’s hard to choose favorites at the counter. Their Pumpkin Trail prize was pumpkin fudge. It tasted just like pumpkin frosting. Swoon.

Here's our pumpkin trail treat:

Just look at these awesome displays!

Following our candy craze, we headed to JENN & Larry’s Brittle ‘n Shakes & Ice Cream Cakes, facing the river. This looks like an old fashioned ice cream parlour, tucked into a Harry-Potter closet-like space. All along the wall, you’ll see a variety of peanut brittles, in many flavors. I was impressed. We also had an ice cream here whilst we were on the Chocolate Trail – more on that to come. The treat from JENN & Larry’s was a bag of pumpkin peanut brittle – theoretically, a perfect gift to bring home and share. Heh heh.Did it make it home? Well...

One of the gifts that did make it home across the border was a jar of Pumpkin Honey, from Treasures. This large jar of goodness has already graced my ginger scones, with delicious success. But here’s the fun thing about Treasures – the aptly named shop has so many interesting items. I spent a bit of time here, wandering and discovering. You’ll love this shop, as well as the pumpkin goodies.

You can get your fix of Shakespeare stuff here, too...

We wandered into the warmth of Distinctly Tea, and were welcomed by teapots, a zillion kinds of tea, and a very comfy couch. I can imagine taking a tea break here, but we were “working” hard on our Pumpkin Trail scavenger hunt, and didn’t stop to rest. Here, we received a bag of pumpkin spice fruit tea. It’s a unique and sweet blend, and is perfect for crisp fall days when you need to warm up. We loved this tea so much that we used two of our passes here, so we could each have one!

Lastly, we stopped in for a lunch at Revival House, which is a new restaurant located in a very old church. The colors are beautiful, and it’s the perfect place to refuel before heading out again, perhaps on the Bacon and Ale Trail. Their pumpkin dessert was creative and delicious.

We loved the Pumpkin Trail so much - we dove into shops we might have passed by before, on our way to the Stratford Festival Theatre. We made new friends. And we sure ate a lot of really delicious food. Highly recommended!

Learn more: www.visitstratford.ca/pumpkintrail

Follow along on social media:
@StratfordON
@SavourStratford

Yep. We love Stratford!

All photos courtesy and copyright Wandering Educators, except 2nd and 4th photos, courtesy Stratford Tourism Alliance (thank you!)