Do you love hot peppers? Then you are going to love this chile pepper festival! It’s about 40 minutes from Lancaster city but worth the drive if you are a hot pepper fanatic. At the festival you’ll find everything you can imagine related to chile peppers and hot peppers and beyond. Here are some photos from our family’s experience at the festival.
You’ll also find fresh fruits and vegetables at the farm market stand! If you want to pick your own, read our family tips below about parking at the farm instead of at the festival.
Don’t worry about your kids getting bored or needing entertained. In the center of the festival grounds is a playground that will let your kids get their energy out!
For The Not-Spicy Fans
And no worries if not everyone in your family is a hot pepper fanatic. There are plenty of stands that have ordinary foods with no spice or kick to them including pastries, french fries, vinegar, honey, wine, lemonade and even fried ice cream!
Our Family’s Tips
We recommend driving straight to the farm and parking at the farm. Go past the festival (it will be on your left) and continue on that road straight for about a quarter of a mile. You’ll then see a bend in the road and the farm with a long lane will be in front of you.
At the farm you can pick any peppers you want to in their field. You can also pick pumpkins, gourds, tomatoes, eggplant. This is really neat for our family to do together—but please be careful. The hottest peppers will leave juice on your hands that will burn you, specifically watch out for the carolina reepers. You do not want your children picking these peppers or touching them. Bring some latex gloves!
You can also check out their fresh food market, try some hot pepper ice cream and then ride the horse-drawn wagon to the festival. It’s a fun little thing for a family to do together.
The wagon will drop you off right at the festival. Admission is usually $4 per person, but every year that we have gone to the farm first and rode the wagon in, we were never charged. I honestly don’t know if thats a ‘perk’ for parking at the farm or if we just happen to get missed every time.
We like to visit the bathrooms first (you’ll see the bath house building to the right after you step off the wagon and head towards the festival). Then make your way around the chile pepper festival—its kind of in a loop which is nice because you end right where you started.
Location & Time
The chile pepper festival is located in Bowers, PA, which is north east of Lancaster. It is held the second weekend of September every year on both Friday and Saturday. You can find more information about the festival on their website.
You also may want to look into their Jalapeno Eating Contest and their Salsa Contest.
