Potato cannon added to the fall festival activities at the Garden of Eve in Riverhead
The potato cannon at the Garden of Eve farm in Riverhead. Credit: Garden of Eve
A new, air-powered potato cannon lets visitors to the Garden of Eve Organic Farm and Market in Riverhead shoot small potatoes at targets. “Usually, we try to use potato rejects,” says co-owner Eve Kaplan-Wallbrecht. “It shoots out over the field and makes a satisfying whooshing sound.”
Shooters can aim for traditional, round, bull's-eye targets or a tractor in the field — Kaplan-Wallbrecht says she’s planning to add a scarecrow atop the tractor. Players pay $5 for four shots or $10 for 10 shots, and the cannon is available from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays through at least Halloween as well as on Columbus Day.
The cannon joins the farm’s other full-day weekend offerings, which include a hayride and a bounce house. “My son is 14 now, and the things he used to like doing on the farm aren’t so exciting for him anymore,” Kaplan-Wallbrecht says. “You need something a little more dramatic for the older kids.”
Admission to the farm’s autumn festivities is $7.95 per person with children younger than 2 free. Only the cannon is an additional fee to cover the cost of potato ammo, Kaplan-Wallbrecht says. Garden of Eve Organic Farm and Market is located at 4558 Sound Ave., Riverhead. For more information, call 631-722-8777 or go to gardenofevefarm.com.
Beth Whitehouse writes about families, parenting and great things to do with the kids on Long Island. She’s been a Newsday editor and shared a 1997 Newsday staff Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the crash of TWA Flight 800.
