"Fun"-Raisers

Marana Pumpkin Patch Fun-Raising

Thank you for your interest in volunteering at Marana Pumpkin Patch!
In exchange for your group’s work as volunteers, Marana Pumpkin Patch donates funds to your non-profit group. This is a valuable exchange for both parties. 

Often times we still find it difficult to have enough employees during our peak weekends. Helping hands from volunteer crews make all the difference to our hard-working staff, taking some of the stress out of long weekend days with fresh, eager attitudes and enthusiasm. In exchange volunteers get a chance to bond with each other and make new friends in a fast-paced, fun work environment all while fundraising for their cause and helping us create Magical Memories for our guests.

The Details

Age Requirement: All volunteers must be at least 15 years old.***
Number of People Needed: We would like each group to bring 8 to 10 volunteers each day they are signed up.
Hours: 10am to 6pm on Saturdays and Sundays. There will be two shifts per day: 10am to 2pm and 2pm to 6pm.
Payment: Marana Pumpkin Patch will donate $12.15 per hour per person to each volunteer’s not for profit organization.

2021 Dates

September 18th & 19th
September 25th & 26th
October 2nd & 3rd
October 9th & 10th
October 16th, & 17th
October 23rd & 24th
October 30th & 31st

Volunteer Opportunities


Volunteers will usually be teamed up in pairs and work closely with Marana Pumpkin Patch employees. Tasks are mostly food-related, including bagging kettle corn, refilling ice, and drinks, washing dishes, and cleaning tables. Please see the Fun- Raising Volunteer Tasks section to learn more details about the opportunities available. 

Ready to help us create Magical Memories?  

Sign up will be online, and slots are now open! 
Please talk with your group organizers so you are prepared to sign up. There are a limited number of days and spots available, and they will fill up quickly. Each group may sign up for 1 or 2 days of volunteering. Please note there will be a deadline established for your group to find volunteers and sign up. This helps us by knowing if a group is full or may need to be cancelled due to no one signing up. This gives us time to try to offer the time to our waiting list.  

Volunteer Screening

In order to volunteer with Marana Pumpkin Patch and for us to maintain a level of safety for our guests and employees, each prospective volunteer will go through a screening process that includes: 
Complete the online volunteer application and waiver 
Screened through the online Department of Justice Sex Offender Registry

Training

As a volunteer with Marana Pumpkin Patch, we want you to be safe and enjoy your time on the farm. Prior to your group’s volunteer time, your group members will be able to view a short online introduction and training to help start your volunteer experience.

Waiting List

If the date(s) you would like are full please email us at maranapumpkinpatch@gmail.com to be added to our waiting list.

Cancelling

If your group is scheduled and not able to fulfill the commitment, please email us as soon as possible so we have time to contact a replacement group. Email maranapumpkinpatch@gmail.com

Fun-Raising Volunteer Tasks


During our fall season, we envision our farm as a place to create magical memories with family and friends. As a volunteer, you are helping put that vision into action. Below is a list of possible tasks that may be assigned to your group once you arrive for your volunteer day(s). You may be assigned to one of these tasks or a variety of other opportunities based on the needs of the location and discretion of the Team Leaders, Supervisors, and Volunteer Coordinators.  

Food Team Tasks

Bagging Kettle Corn: Help us bag up one of our most popular food items for our guests, Kettle Corn! As a volunteer at one of our three kettle corn making areas, you will help scoop and bag the kettle corn into small or large bags. We go through thousands of bags of kettle corn each season; this is a big help for us!

Janitorial: We promise it isn’t as bad as it sounds! We have over 100 tables here at the pumpkin patch so as a volunteer we would need your help wiping tables and returning trays to our dishwashing area.

Serving Drinks: Most of our locations have drink options available and this is where you come in! As a volunteer, you may be asked to serve drinks to our guests as part of their order. This involves keeping our ice chests full of ice and each variety of drinks and handing them to our guests. Don’t forget that smile!

Dishwashing: Our food locations can be very busy, this is a great thing! Being busy also means the food locations go through a lot of dishes and trays. These trays need to be wiped down using our cleaning and sanitizing cloths and the dishes need to get washed and allowed to air dry. Although this may not be glamorous, you will be the pride and joy of the food location if you are tasked with dishwashing!

Serving Food: In a few of our food locations, volunteers may be assigned to help prepare a food order for our guests. This may involve adding fries to an order, serving a side dish to the guest, or grabbing a slice of pie from the case. Food varies across the farm at each location and serving food may look different depending on which location you are assigned.

Staff Kitchen: On busy October weekends, we offer our employees the option to have a meal through our staff kitchen. This meal can be from our catering team or sponsored by an outside vendor. Food is delivered to the staff kitchen and served to our employees. As a volunteer at the staff kitchen, you will help the staff kitchen Team Leader serve the food to employees, box up any food taken back to locations for other employees, clean, set up and take down the area.

Attractions

Attractions are placed throughout the farm, from pedal carts and jumping pillows to our Farm Playland and Tiny Tractors. Safety is a top priority at Marana Pumpkin Patch and as a volunteer you may be assigned to help at one of our attraction locations. The key is to keep our guests and each other safe.

Pedal Carts: Our pedal carts are a fun attraction for all ages. Families and friends can race around the tracks, steering through gravel, dirt, and mud. They can also get stuck! Some of our younger guests may have trouble making it all the way around the track or they may get stuck in a patch of mud. As a volunteer, you will help our employees guide guests through the track, pushing the younger guests out of the mud or away from the wall, and helping pull the carts to the front for the next guests to enjoy. This can be hard work on a busy day, but a favorite among our volunteers who have tried it - come prepared!

Super Slide Ride: As a volunteer at the Super Slide Ride, you will help our guests make their way to the top and remind them to grab a burlap sack. You will also hang the burlap sacks along the slide fence for our guests to use. Another task may be line control and guiding guests to either side of the slide.

Pumpkin Canons: This is a popular attraction where guests pay pumpkins or apples and use them for target practice with large air guns. As a volunteer, you might assist in line control and keeping the area clear of debris.

Corn Maze: As a volunteer at the corn maze, you will assist customers by helping them access the map of the maze. You will also help our pumpkin patch team member monitor the maze and keep it clean.

Tiny Tractors and Sand Diggers: This area is a big hit! As a volunteer you will help employees with line control, explaining how the tractors and diggers work and helping the guests if they get stuck.

Tractor Train: As a volunteer at our tractor train, you will assist customers in and out of our mini pumpkin cars! Don’t forget to smile!

Trains: This is a very popular event and as a volunteer we need your help at the train depot! You will help with line control, keeping the train clean and greeting the guests.

Pre- Season/ Post Seasons Events

We may have space open for volunteer groups to help us set up and take down the pumpkin patch. This will give you an exclusive behind the scenes experience of how things come together every year! Tasks could include set up and tear down or assisting employees with crafts or projects.

Pumpkin Patch and Pumpkin Checkout

Our pumpkin patch is now open and ready for harvest! We have around 50 acres of pumpkins planted each season and many of our guests choose to pick their own pumpkin in one of our fields. As a volunteer at the pumpkin patch, you may be tasked with guiding guests through the line and helping our tractor drivers assist guests on and off the hayracks. You also may help guests pick pumpkins in the field and assist with keeping our field clean. At our pumpkin checkout stand you may be asked to collect wagons from the parking lot, distribute pumpkins and keep the area clean.

Other Important Areas

Admissions: Our admissions area is very important and on busy weekends it can get a little hectic! As a volunteer you will help direct customers to open windows to purchase tickets.

Parking lot: Our parking lot is huge, so we really count on our volunteers to help keep it clean! We also may need your help directing traffic and welcoming guests to our facility.

Apply Now!