La Center’s Gather and Feast Farm has been making a name for itself in the world of Clark County pumpkin patches.
Started in 2017 by Mark and Nikki Lopez, Gather and Feast farm was an organic vegetable farm that the couple used to source their Portland-based catering business.
“The farm just kind of grew, and we had a big farm crew prior to 2020,” said farm owner Nikki Lopez.
Unfortunately the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the farm’s ability to yield the same amount of vegetables, so Lopez turned to leasing the land to other farmers.
“They grow the vegetables and go to the farmer’s market in Ridgefield,” Lopez said.
Additionally, Lopez turned the farm into an agritourism destination with several events throughout the year.
“We have the pumpkin patch, spooky forest and then we do Highland Holiday Christmas festival,” Lopez said. “We do a spring Little Moo Makers Market.”
In 2021, the farm started its pumpkin patch which started gaining momentum just two years later.
In fall of 2025, the farm decided to add another attraction to their farm that families could enjoy, the Spooky Forest.
“This is our second year doing the spooky forest and it’s still trying to get momentum,” Lopez said.
Walking the Spooky Forest begins with the front farmhouse and bends back and through the rest of the property before taking a loop in and out of the trees before ending.
“We called on the community for some help decorating this year because last year, by the time we finished decorating, it was Halloween,” Lopez said.
Though thrilling visitors with scary scenes would be fun for Lopez, she opted to keep the decorations to a level befitting of a general audience.
One of the main focuses Lopez has kept for the fall festivities is to keep them tamer than most pumpkin patches.
“People are looking for a low-key pumpkin patch,” Lopez said. “The people that don’t like big crowds, they like to just come here. It’s a $5 entry fee any day, do a self-guided tour on the farm and people spend an hour or two here sometimes.”
One of the main reasons people stick around is to visit with and even pet the farm’s star attraction, the Scottish Highland cattle.
“We had a farm manager who just said ‘hey, there’s these cows. I think they’re cool and they’d be a good addition to the farm’,” Lopez said.
Lopez acquired two cows named Chewy and Rosy in 2019, which led to Gather and Feast’s biggest attraction to the county community.
Since the original adoption, the cows have had calves about once a year, and those calves usually get sold off to families looking to keep the cow as a pet.
“Chewy and Rosy got kind of big, so we downsized to Coco and Marshmallow now and we’ve had a baby every year since 2019,” Lopez said.
Lopez said they only made one exception to selling the calf and that came the most recent year with the birth of a gray cow that was named Gandalf the Gray-ze.
The farm also raises various animals that visitors can choose to meet like pigs, chickens and goats, but the biggest draw for the community rests with the unique cows.
“We see so many nice people, and whether it’s for Halloween or Christmas, like 99 percent of the people that come through have never been here before,” Lopez said. “We’re just so blessed that the community keeps showing up for us. It’s a nice feeling to be able to share it.”
Gather and Feast Farm is located at 2706 NE 369th St, La Center, WA.
The Farm’s hours of operation are from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily.
You can visit their website at gatherandfeastfarm.com and follow them on social media facebook.com/gatherandfeastfarm or Instagram @gatherandfeastfarm
