Wrights Farm | Dog Friendly Apple Orchards for Apple Picking during COVID-19
Wrights Farm Apple Picking with your Dog!
+ COVID-19 updates
Since I’ve covered the basics of the Wright’s Farm’s amenities and other dog friendly apple orchards in this post, I’ll keep it purely about our COVID-19 experience (note that some orchards have revoked their pet policies this year including Wilken’s Fruit Farm and Apple Dave’s Orchards).
Wright’s Farm
Gardener, NY
Upstate New York fall foliage on the way to Wrights Farm
The drive to Wrights Farm was so beautiful. It’s the beginning of the fall foliage. When arriving onto the Wrights property, the parking lot is a mess. Expect to see people double parking each other and getting stuck. When heading up to the farm, you’ll have plenty of space for parking along the orchard. The logistics of the whole entry way was not thought out and WAS NOT COVID-19 friendly. By that I mean, there were long lines indoors for apple picking bags and for the bathroom. It could take you about 30-45 minutes to get your apple picking bag at 12:00 pm on a Saturday. I’d recommend not going during prime time. They have so much property they could sell these bags in the cars driving up to the orchard while everyone remained socially distanced in their cars. There was a long line for the bathroom and no signs indicating they had more in the orchard so everyone is congregating in front of the bathroom line without distancing markers.
You are allowed to stay in the orchard 10-4 for tailgating with the whole family! People brought out canopies and barbecues to hang out with the family all day. There were lots of dogs but everyone was very respectful with their dog and no one’s dog was out of control which made us feel so much safer bringing our three month old French Bulldog, Russ, around the orchard. Since the orchard (not the buying area/store of the farm) spans over 400 acres, you never feel too close to someone when I was actually apple picking.
The temperature is dropping, but the sun is still shinning. Remember to wear your sunscreen out on the orchard and a mask is still advised! I’d also recommend bringing a cooling bandanna for your dog especially if you have a breed like French Bulldogs who get overheated easily. I’d recommend this one that we brought with us. It’s very light weight and works with any temperature of water. You can wet it with room temperature water and whip the bandanna in the air a few times to activate it’s cooling properties. You’ll thank me later. Click the image of our dog, Russ, sporting the bandanna to view details (paid link)!
Russ, the french bulldog, enjoy himself at Wright’s Farm Apple Orchard with his cooling bandanna.
Mosey down to their brewery opening at 3pm for some refreshments (cider of course), and live music started around 4pm. You can try their two ciders on tap, a dry and a sweet. We got one dry and one mixed. We thought the mixed was great, not overbearingly sweet, and went back for more! Going to the brewery, we beat the rush because we went when they opened. After the first wave, the line took about 20-30 minutes again to get a second. I much preferred this line to their apple bag line because we were waiting outdoors. They had lots of socially distanced seating but not a lot of food to eat with fork and knives (we got nachos and pretzels).
After the initial jolt of being tossed into a room indoors with at least 50 other people inside standing back to back without a line separating people by 6ft, the apple picking was pleasantly distanced and safe.
I hope they take this information into account and hope that you do as well. It was a great trip overall!