Cox’s Pumpkin Patch has been growing since 1984 — family owned and operated, and proudly old-school. The Nebraska travel guide once described it as “back to the basics,” and that still fits: a plentiful pumpkin patch, a classic corn maze, breezy hayrack rides, and a picture-perfect selection of gourds for autumn decorating.
It sits two miles west of Champion at Cox’s Ponds in the far southwest corner of the state (Mountain Time country), where it’s the local patch for McCook-area families. Visit with the family by day — pony rides, petting zoo, scarecrow contests, and 5K and 10-mile runs are all part of the fall tradition — and keep an eye out for the adults-only nights after dark. The Spady family’s three-decade attendance record is about the best review a patch can get.