Penfield Farm Markets Fall 2026: Plan Your Autumn Farm Loop

"Farm life goes on. We will rebuild."

Julie Bauman ended the family's statement, as reported by 13WHAM, with those two sentences a couple of days after fire destroyed the main market building at Bauman's Farm Market on Five Mile Line Road. The Baumans have farmed this land since 1908. The current generation has run it since 1984. Daniel Bauman is the market's field manager and the son of its owner. He called the loss "like losing an old friend."

October starts tomorrow. It's the month a lot of Penfield households head out for pumpkins, mums and cider. This year the trip has a different meaning. The farms on this fall circuit kept each other running through the summer. The Bauman family also made a specific request: no donations, just come back and shop. So the ordinary pumpkin run is now part of how one of the town's oldest farms recovers.

Three Days, July 22 to July 25

The timeline is short enough to list:

1. Wednesday, July 22, around 2:30 a.m. A fire is reported at the farm. Strong north winds push it to two alarms. More than 50 responders work the scene, and no one is hurt.
2. July 22, later that day. Herman's Farm Market & Cider Mill, down the road in Webster, puts a collection box next to its register. People start leaving cash and checks the same day.
3. Friday, July 24. The family announces a tent setup in front of the fire scene, with produce, flowers and some sweet corn.
4. Saturday, July 25. Bauman's sells from the tent, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. That same morning, the Baumans' Harvest Bound Farms booth is at the Webster Farmers' Market's "Christmas in July" market.

Three days from fire to sales. The family didn't manage that alone, and the names behind it are names you already know from fall shopping.

Who Showed Up, and What They Brought

Daniel Bauman described the help piece by piece. Nate from Sunscape brought supplies. Schutt's Apple Mill provided the tent. Dave Woodward brought a tractor to cultivate the fields.

Gary Herman, who owns Herman's, explained the collection box simply. "There's a million different little things that you need," he told WHEC. "We're all small farms, family farms. We're all in this together."

All of these farms sell to the same customers in the same season, and they kept a neighbor open anyway. Bauman's also had more to work with than the photos of the burned market suggested. Julie Bauman's account lists the losses as the main market, the large barn north of it, a second barn, a tool shop, one tractor and many small tools. The back greenhouses were mostly fine apart from some plastic that needs replacing. Most of the large equipment and the field crops came through. Dan Bauman said the family could keep farming and wholesaling. The fields made it through. The building where you paid did not.

The Request That Changed What Helping Looks Like

The Bauman family's public message, as reported by Spectrum Local News, asked people not to donate to them. They asked people to visit once sales started again. Herman's register box was Herman's own idea, separate from that message. The family's own request was specific: buy the corn, buy the flowers.

Customers did. Cathy Klein, who lives nearby, told WHEC she stopped in "probably at least once a week" for vegetables and that buying Mother's Day flowers there had become a family tradition. A month after the fire, WROC met Carol, who has shopped at Bauman's for 50 years. She was buying produce to take to family out of town who had been "begging me to come here and get produce to take to them."

Where Bauman's Stands Heading Into October

The latest dated report is WROC's update from August 19. At that point Bauman's had a stand for customers, and an electrician was working to restore power. The investigation was still underway. "We're getting plans in place for what we want to do in the future, what this might look like," Daniel Bauman said. "You know, later this year and as well as next year." No rebuild schedule has been announced, and the cause of the fire hadn't been reported as of that update.

The farm's homepage currently shows sweet corn, mums, pumpkins, winter squash and gourds. It lists store hours of 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. The page isn't dated, though, and it doesn't say whether those hours apply to the stand. The fall extras it usually describes, including cornstalks, hay bales and a free hay maze, also aren't confirmed for this year. Check the farm's own channels before you plan a Saturday around any of them.

The October Map Around It

Bauman's is one stop on a short loop. Here is what each nearby farm lists for fall, and where the details come from. The Bauman's and Sunscape pages aren't dated, so check with them directly.

Herman's is the stop with a dated seasonal item. A September 25 post said pumpkin fried cakes are available every day. The farm's site says its fried cakes run from October through May, alongside fresh-pressed cider. Sunscape's Penfield market sells the fall decor. Its U-pick flowers are at the Greece location.

Two Kinds of Fall Afternoon, Same Few Miles

Wickham Farms is the ticketed option on the map. Pick & Play admission is $23.95 Monday, Tuesday and Thursday and $29.95 Friday through Sunday. It includes a half-peck apple-picking bag, a hayride to the orchard, the pumpkin house, the Corn-A-Copia maze and more than 30 other attractions. There's a Candy Cannon Show at 5 p.m. on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, and pumpkin destruction starts on Halloween. It's a full outing for a family with kids, and it runs through November 1.

The roadside markets suit a shorter trip. Pick up a few pumpkins and a flat of mums for the front steps, then grab cider and fried cakes for the drive home. At Bauman's this year, the family has said plainly that this kind of quick stop is the help it wants.

Five Mile Line Road has one more October date. The third annual Penfield Rotary Foundation Walk is Saturday, October 24, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Rothfuss Park, 1648 Five Mile Line Road. Adult registration is $10, and children and dogs walk free. Fit the walk and a farm-stand loop on the same road into one morning.

When your fall porch display is finished, it's worth a photo. Seasonal touches like Five Mile Line Road pumpkins and mums are the same details Arlene Reese uses when she stages Penfield homes for listing photos. If you're thinking about selling next year and want to talk through how your home presents in each season, schedule a free consultation.