This Sunday, Oct. 25, the Durham Grange Farmers Market sets up behind Dollar General one last time this year, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The season opened in the spring with a scavenger hunt for kids, live music from local musician Shane Myers, and the Exchange Club of Durham handing out flags and water, as the Gridley Herald reported. Organizers told the paper they wanted to build a regular Sunday tradition in Durham through the fall. They got there. The season wraps this weekend, as Butte365's market listing also shows.
The calendar keeps going after that. From late October into December, Durham's community dates shift to one address on the same road: Patrick Ranch Museum, 10381 Midway. Local groups partner with the museum on many of its events, which makes the ranch Durham's community calendar for the cold months.
One address, a lineup of local hosts
The Far West Heritage Association manages Patrick Ranch and calls itself the steward of the property. Look closely at the museum's 2026 events page and you'll see a list of Durham-area partners. Boy Scout Troop 31 presents the haunted house. The UC Master Gardeners of Butte County host a November workshop. The Durham Women's Club runs the holiday pie sale with the museum.
The grounds can handle a crowd. On Sept. 12, the ranch hosted a new Renaissance and Fantasy Faire, free to attend, with more than 200 vendors, performers, organizations and volunteers announced, according to Action News Now. The events coming up this fall are smaller. Most are built around a barn, a dinner hour or a pie.
The last haunted nights are this weekend and next Friday
The Patrick Ranch Haunted House opened Oct. 9. As of this week it has four nights left: Friday Oct. 23, Saturday Oct. 24, Sunday Oct. 25, and Friday Oct. 30, each from 6 to 9 p.m. Troop 31's room themes include a Spider Nest, a Slaughter House, a Witch's Lair and a Mirror Maze. Tickets are $15, and you pick your date when you buy online.
The Patrick Ranch Snack Bar is open during those nights with BBQ burgers, hot dogs, popcorn, candy, and beer and wine. That turns a haunted house stop into dinner and an evening out on the Midway. On Sunday the 25th, you can walk the final market in the morning and come back to the ranch after dark.
The last haunted house night is Oct. 30, the night before Halloween. If Halloween is your night for trick-or-treaters, Friday the 30th still works.
A pumpkin stop for the Saturdays in between
For pumpkins before Halloween, Book Family Farm is at 153 Heavy Horse Lane in Durham. The farm's own site lists pumpkin picking Oct. 1 through Oct. 31, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., closed Sundays. North State Parent's 2026 listing adds farm animals and free admission and parking. The farm's site says Monday through Saturday, while Explore Butte County lists Tuesday through Saturday, so check with the farm before you go.
Since the farm is closed Sundays, it pairs easily with this weekend. Pick pumpkins Saturday, then do the last market Sunday morning.
What's on the grounds on an ordinary weekend
Between events, Patrick Ranch is open Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. all year. That gives you the November weekends without a ticketed event, and plenty of reasons to come back.
The main building is Glenwood, an 1877 farmhouse. According to a 2017 account from Goldfields Books, Cornelius Bryant built it on William Northgraves's ranch with bricks made on site, and he and his wife Sarah raised four daughters there. The same account says the property passed from the Bryant daughters to brothers Adam and Henry Compton, and later to William "Pat" Patrick and Hester Patrick. The Patricks left the ranch to the Far West Heritage Association in the early 2000s, and that is why the house and acreage are open to the public today.
The Far West Heritage Association describes a 28-acre property between Chico and Durham with the farmhouse, a Visitor Center, a Gift Shop, several barns and an artifact collection. Its history page points to old photographs and records, plus valley oaks it puts at 260 years old.
Two outdoor features connect the ranch to the farm country around it.
- The Master Gardener demonstration garden. In an August 2025 Chico Enterprise-Record column, a Butte County Master Gardener described 14 specialized gardens on the property, open on the same weekend schedule.
- The Historical Almond Orchard. It sits just southeast of the Visitor Center. Joseph Connell, a UC Cooperative Extension Farm Advisor Emeritus, planted it in February 2011 after three years of planning. The trees are set in a 25-by-25 square. The features page says the varieties come from the founding years of the California almond industry, 1850 to 1900. Among them is Languedoc, an early import from southern France that bore poorly before growers understood cross-pollination.
In a town where almond orchards line the drive home, the orchard is a short walk through the history of the crop around you. The Master Gardeners who look after the demonstration garden are the same group teaching the November workshop.
November runs on dinners, centerpieces and pies
After Halloween, the ranch's calendar shifts to smaller, sit-down events, and each one has a local host.
| Date | Event | Host | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thursday, Nov. 12 | November Bunco in the Barn | Patrick Ranch Museum | $5 dinner hour 5:30 to 6:30 p.m., $10 Bunco from 6:30 p.m. |
| Sunday, Nov. 22, 1 to 3 p.m. | Pumpkin Succulent Centerpiece Workshop | UC Master Gardeners of Butte County with Patrick Ranch Museum | $55, materials included |
| Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2 to 6 p.m. | Holiday Pie Pre-Sale drive-thru pickup | Durham Women's Club with Patrick Ranch Museum | $25 per 9-inch pie |
| Dec. 5 and 6, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. | Patrick Ranch Annual Artisan's Faire | Patrick Ranch Museum | Not listed |
| Thursday, Dec. 10 | December Bunco in the Barn | Patrick Ranch Museum | $5 dinner hour, $10 Bunco |
The workshop and the pie pickup line up neatly with Thanksgiving. The centerpiece class is Sunday, Nov. 22, so whatever you make is fresh for the table. Pie pickup follows on Tuesday, Nov. 24. Choose apple, pumpkin or maple pecan, order ahead, then drive through at 10381 Midway to collect. If you're hosting, that's dessert handled before the holiday.
Bunco in the Barn runs on a simple formula: dinner first, the game at 6:30. It happens in both November and December, so a group of friends can make it a monthly night out through the end of the year. The museum also suggests checking back for new activity updates, so more dates may be added.
Into December
The Artisan's Faire on Dec. 5 and 6 is the ranch's next weekend event after Thanksgiving, and the December Bunco closes out the 2026 calendar on Dec. 10. The Grange market's Sunday mornings take a break once this weekend is over. Until they come back, the Midway still has a full schedule, at the ranch with the brick farmhouse and the old valley oaks.
Want help working out how a season of Durham weekends fits the life you're building here? Or know a friend who'd love a town where the pie pickup line is on the calendar? Connect Real Estate Group is happy to share what we know about the Midway and the people who keep it busy. Let's Chat.
