Benner’s Farm in East Setauket: A Season-by-Season Guide

ByPawli Paola Meyer

Benner’s Farm sits on about 15 acres at 56 Gnarled Hollow Road in East Setauket. Local newspaper coverage describes it as a working organic farm, and a festival site run by the farm’s partners says thousands of people attend its workshops, festivals and special events each year. The farm’s calendar changes sharply from one season to the next, so this guide follows the year in order and marks which details come from 2026 reporting and which are older.

Video: Benners Farm Long Island on YouTube

Background and setting

A 2016 profile in Dan’s Papers reports that the land has been farmed since 1751 and that the Benner family is the seventh to work it. A later article in TBR News Media’s coverage of the farm says Bob and Jean Benner bought the property in 1977. According to the same profile, the first public program came about when a local nursery school asked for a way to show children where food comes from.

Some of the animals raised for meat carry food-themed names. The grounds include children’s play areas, gardens, fields and woods, and the festival site describes the farm’s swing as the biggest on Long Island. Homestead Arts, a not-for-profit that promotes homesteading, folklore and agricultural arts through workshops and classes, is a regular partner and the beneficiary of several events, according to the Fiddle & Folk Festival site.

Winter and early spring: maple sugaring

The farm’s season opens in the cold. When the bennersfarm.com home page was read for this article, it said the farm was not yet open and would begin with maple sugaring demonstrations in late February and the first weekend of March, with visitors asked to call to book.

The 2026 public Maple Sugaring Day took place on Saturday, February 28, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., with admission listed at $15 for adults and $12 for seniors and children, according to a February 2026 report in TBR News Media. The same report gives the sugaring ratio as roughly 30 to 50 gallons of sap for each gallon of syrup. Bob Benner explained the weather the process needs: “Ideally it’s below freezing at night and above freezing during the day.” Private two-hour group tours were offered on February 20 to 22 and March 1.

Hay wagon on a wooded trail at dusk, a seasonal feature of Benner's Farm in East Setauket.

Spring: egg hunts and open weekends

Easter egg hunts are an established spring event. The 2026 hunts ran on April 4 and 5, and each included two golden eggs with special prizes, along with farm animals, baby animals in the barn and a visit from the Easter Bunny, per the same TBR listing. Past hunts have been ticketed through online time slots rather than sold at the gate; the 2023 hunts, for example, were priced at $12 per person and booked in advance, according to a 2023 event listing.

Open weekends fill the gaps. In 2025 the farm opened on May 10 and 11 for Mother’s Day weekend, from noon to 4 p.m., at $12 for adults and $10 for seniors and children. Dan’s Papers also lists a May Day festival with a maypole and a June strawberry festival with pick-your-own strawberries among the farm’s regular offerings, though the 2016 profile predates the current calendar and current dates need to be checked.

Summer: camps, classes and music

Summer programming leans toward longer-running offerings. The 2016 profile lists summer camps and a Friday night music series, and the festival site names Mommy and Me classes, birthday parties, school trips, scout visits, private weddings and summer evening concerts among the farm’s activities. Birthday parties, according to the profile, center on traditional activities such as the swing and feeding baby animals rather than rides.

The home page adds a spring set of courses in preparation: Mommy & Me, Farm Fun and Down on the Farm, plus winter and spring workshops. Details for each are on linked pages that the farm maintains.

Maple sugaring buckets on tree trunks, as used in late winter at Benner's Farm.

Fall: Fiddle & Folk, harvest and hayrides

The largest single event is the Fiddle & Folk Festival. A September 10, 2026 report in TBR News Media lists the 14th annual edition for Saturday, September 19, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Four stages were planned, among them a main stage and a stage built on the stake bed of a 1924 Model TT Ford truck that hosts an open-mic competition. Advance tickets were $22 for adults, $18 for seniors and $10 for children under 16, with higher prices at the gate. A Pick of the Crop contest gives local musicians a chance to play the main stage the following year, and Gallery North’s Plein Air Collective painted on the grounds. Guests were encouraged to bring chairs and blankets.

That festival has passed for 2026, but the pattern is steady; earlier editions took place in September in 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2025. A 2022 report describes the event as a revival of an earlier festival once run through the Long Island Museum and the Long Island Traditional Music Association. The 2021 edition was headlined by Chris Smither, and the 2025 festival, covered in an August 2025 TBR article, featured Buddy Merriam & Back Roads in what was billed as their final performance at the farm before retirement. Organizers over the years have included Homestead Arts and the arts council for the Port Jefferson and northern Brookhaven area, with WUSB 90.1 FM and TBR News Media listed among the sponsors. With four stages, art projects and instrument demonstrations for children in the 2026 plan, the event turns the working farm into a music venue for one day each autumn.

October is when the harvest side of the farm comes forward. Dan’s Papers lists an annual Harvest Festival. A TBR report from October 2019 describes what that looked like on the weekend of October 19 and 20: pumpkin picking, hayrides, live music, craft and food vendors, and trails decorated with tombstones and scary characters. Bob Benner demonstrated an apple press, walked through the steps of making cider, and described how people once stored produce in root cellars.

Evening hayrides have also been a recent October feature. In 2025, according to a report in the TBR tag archive, haunted tractor hayrides ran on October 17, 18, 24, 25 and 31 starting at 6 p.m., with the first hour of each night suited to younger children and tickets reserved online rather than sold at the door. No 2026 hayride dates were found on a page that could be verified, so readers interested in them are best served by checking the farm’s website or calling 631-689-8172.

Programs for schools and groups

The farm’s website describes teacher programs that include farm visits, either in person or virtual, colonial programs and other specialized programming delivered at schools or on the farm. The page states that they align with Long Island social studies curriculum. Group and private tours, as the maple sugaring listing shows, can also be requested in season.

Rope swing and hay bales in an autumn farm yard similar to the grounds at Benner's Farm.

Practical notes for a visit

The farm’s address is 56 Gnarled Hollow Road, East Setauket, and the information line listed in 2026 coverage is 631-689-8172. Because the farm opens on a seasonal schedule rather than daily, and several events sell tickets in advance, the farm’s own website is the reference point for current hours, reservations and weather cancellations. One earlier example: a May Day festival in 2019 was canceled for weather, as TBR reported.

Weather policies differ by event. The 2022 festival was advertised as rain or shine, with attendees bringing their own seating, while the weather cancellation in 2019 shows that smaller events can be called off.

Nearby and related reading

Pumpkin patches and farm stands across the North Shore are covered in North Shore pumpkin picking and farm stands. Setauket’s Revolutionary-era story, which shares a postal area with the farm, is outlined in the Culper spy ring in Setauket.

The details here come from published sources of varying age and are provided as general information only.

Hours, programs and prices change; confirm details with the official sources linked above before visiting.

Sources

Similar Posts

Leave a Reply