One of Santa Clarita’s newest venues for family fun is bringing a new and unique event to the SCV. The community is invited to Gilchrist Farm’s Summer Faire, a day to step back in time to the Renaissance, with jousting exhibitions, archery, magicians, storytellers and a lot more. Partnering with the American Jousting Alliance, Jim and Monica Gilchrist will open their 15-acre property on Saturday, June 3 from 10 a.m.-7 p.m. for a ticketed event that includes interactive activities from archery to sling shots.
In addition to two jousting shows—at 1 p.m. and again at 5 p.m.—tickets include free entertainment: storytelling, magicians, musicians, archery, spears, sling shots, western roping and more.
Other activities will be available for purchase at the Summer Faire, including pony rides and a renaissance mercantile with crafts for the kids, where they can create shields, pendants, goblets and other accoutrements from the middle ages. The Saturday wagon ride will also be themed and include narration.
Monica’s father often drives the tractor that pulls visitors through Gilchrist Farm, a place she has lived off and on since childhood. It first belonged to her grandmother, and now Monica and Jim, their two children Ian, 10, and Audrey, 8, and her parents live on the property. Her brother, Gary, lives nearby and helps with events and weekend activities, and an older daughter, Natalie, comes down from Seattle to be a part of it.
The development of Gilchrist Farm as a place for family fun just made sense. The family has been raising dairy goats as a hobby for years, and they threw popular farm-themed parties. “It was a natural evolution — doing what we love, doing it full time,” Monica said.
The timing was also serendipitous, as the closing of nearby Lombardi Ranch due to drought conditions meant the community was without their popular harvest season destination. A working ranch since the 1940s, the family had hosted its fall festival since 1989, drawing crowds from several valleys in Greater Los Angeles.
“We were really fortunate to be able to pick up some of the fabulous traditions the Lombardis started,” Monica said. “They started a tradition of bake sales from local non-profits — teams, education groups and Scouts. … That model was started at Lombardi.”
Last year, Gilchrist Farm’s fall festival enabled some non-profit groups to do the same, and they plan to build on that success, including a fundraising game called “Chicken Splat Bingo.”
On Saturdays, Gilchrist Farm is open to the public from 9 a.m.-2 p.m. for pony rides, a petting zoo and farm-oriented crafts such as painting horseshoes, making candles, etc. There is a goat milking demonstration at 9 a.m. on Saturdays, and there is no admission fee; you just pay per activity.
You may purchase tickets for the Summer Faire online at Gilchristfarm.com/a-summer-faire/, or you may go in person on Saturday between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m., or by arrangement. Pre-sale tickets are $22 for adults and $12 for youth ages 5-14. Groups of 10 or more get $5 off every ticket. Tickets at the door are $25 for adults and $15 for youth. Children 4 and younger are free with a paid adult.
Gilchrist Farm is located at 30116 Bouquet Canyon Road in Saugus. Call 661.645.2517 or visit GilchristFarm.com.
