Bowers Farm Is a County Park Now, and the Fall Festival Ticket Shows It
October 15, 2026
October 15, 2026
In 2025, every adult and child from the general public paid $17 in advance for the Bowers Farm Fall Festival. This year, an Oakland County resident pays $15 and a nonresident pays $19.
The price split is the easiest part of a larger change to see. On July 1, Oakland County Parks and Recreation took over operations of Bowers Farm and the Johnson Nature Center. MLive reported that the handover brought the first county parks to Bloomfield Township. That makes this October's festival, running weekends through Oct. 31, the first one the farm has hosted as a public county park.
Bloomfield Hills Schools still owns the property. Under two separate 30-year operating agreements, one for each site, staffing authority and day-to-day management moved to Oakland County Parks. The district keeps priority access for its educational programming, and student pathway programs continue on the farm. The Bloomfield Hills Board of Education approved the agreements unanimously on March 23, 2026, and the Oakland County Board of Commissioners followed on April 8.
The farm also has a new name. The county calls it Bowers Farm at Discovery Oaks, and the nature center is now Johnson Nature Center at Bloomfield Oaks. MLive explained the names as part of the county's tradition of naming its parks with "oaks." The postal address is still 1219 E. Square Lake Road, Bloomfield Hills, but the farm sits in Bloomfield Township.
In the same report, Oakland County Parks director Chris Ward described why the county wanted the sites. "We have been very interested for years to find opportunities to expand our footprint, have parks closer to the population centers," he said. "The whole county pays into the millage that supports us and it's important to us to provide benefit on a countywide basis." MLive added that the county's park system had been concentrated in the northern and western parts of the county. Ward said Bloomfield Township, Birmingham and Rochester Hills had lacked county park access even though their residents pay taxes that support the system.
Seen next to Ward's millage comment, the new prices follow a familiar county-park pattern. Residents of the county that funds the parks pay less, and visitors from outside pay more. Here is how the two seasons compare, using the published festival details from each year.
| 2025, run by Bloomfield Hills Schools | 2026, run by Oakland County Parks | |
|---|---|---|
| Advance ticket, general public | $17 per person | $15 Oakland County resident, $19 nonresident |
| Ticket at the door | No separate price published | $17 resident, $21 nonresident |
| Farm member, advance | $7 | $8 |
| Friday hours | 5 to 10 p.m. on Oct. 3 | 5 to 9 p.m. |
| Saturday hours | 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. | 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Sundays too |
| Where to buy | schoolfarm.org | Oakland County Parks online system |
For a household of four from Bloomfield Township, advance tickets now cost $60, compared with $68 at last year's general rate. The same four tickets cost $76 for a family visiting from outside Oakland County. A resident who buys at the gate pays $17, the same as last year's advance price, so buying ahead is how a local household gets the lower rate. Farm members pay a dollar more in advance than in 2025.
The 2025 pages listed no Sunday sessions. The available sources don't settle whether Sundays were added this year or simply went unlisted last year, so the table shows only what each season's pages printed.
The 2026 page lists what admission includes, which the 2025 listings did not spell out.
The wagon ride takes about 15 minutes. It loops the property past the pasture, where the farm says horses, goats and sheep are usually grazing. The barns are open for walking through. The farm lists goats, ponies, horses, sheep, a llama, pigs, rabbit and poultry, and asks visitors not to feed the animals anything. Horse rides are recommended for ages 4 and up. Parents cannot walk alongside to steady a child, and horse-ride tickets are sold only at the admissions desk on the day, in limited numbers.
The farm describes the food as a set of meals that changes through the month, plus donuts and cider at the Bowers Farm Concession. Oakland County Times also lists food trucks. Outside food and drinks are not allowed. For adults, a beer garden with hard cider is sponsored by Griffin Claw Brewing Company, the Friends of Bowers Farm and the Bloomfield Rotary.
Today's date is Oct. 11, so the festival has three weekends left after this one.
Friday sessions run 5 to 9 p.m., and Saturdays and Sundays run 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The festival goes ahead rain or shine, and the farm sells tickets with no refunds or exchanges. It suggests that visitors who only want good weather wait to buy until they've checked the forecast. Most of the festival is outdoors under tents, and the heated Farm Store is the one warm room. Dogs and other pets have to stay home.
Parking on the farm is free and staffed by volunteers. On busy days, overflow parking is at the International Academy, 1020 E. Square Lake Road, just west of the farm, with a shuttle to the festival. Small groups can arrange a rental space for October gatherings through the farm.
The county took over a farm with a long local history. John Bartley became its first "school farmer" in 1967. In 1985, the district renamed the School Farm for Dr. Charles L. Bowers, a board member and chair of its Outdoor Education Committee who helped establish the farm and its agricultural curriculum. Michigan State University Extension runs the agricultural operation. The Friends of Bowers Farm, a nonprofit founded in 2010, raises money and organizes volunteers.
Two of the oldest buildings in the county stand on the site. Preservation Bloomfield relocated and restored the 1834 Craig Log Cabin and the 1845 Barton Farmhouse, which the county describes as some of the oldest surviving examples of pioneer architecture in Oakland County. The grounds also hold 75 community gardens and 21 botanical gardens maintained by the Oakland County Master Gardener Society.
All of that was already open to visitors, but not everyone knew it. In the MLive report, Alan Jaros, now deputy director of Oakland County Parks and formerly director of the two facilities for nearly a decade, said first-time visitors were often surprised they were allowed in. Many had assumed the farm was only for Bloomfield Hills Schools students. The county name on the gate is meant to settle that question.
The partnership includes money for the property itself. Bloomfield Hills Schools committed $1.5 million to stabilize existing conditions at Bowers before the county took over. Oakland County Parks committed at least $1.5 million for public access and recreation improvements across Bowers and the Johnson Nature Center, to be spent within two years of the full transition. The county will review the farm's Park Action Plan every five years and its Capital Improvement Plan every four years. District leaders also said the agreements will not raise taxes.
Winter Park comes next. It is the farm's tubing hill, lit for evening glow sessions. The farm says its surface works without natural snow, and visitors who aren't tubing can enter free. Little Guide Detroit reported that the 2025-26 season ran Jan. 9 through March 1, 2026, Fridays 4 to 9 p.m. and weekends 2 to 9 p.m., at $17 per person for a 50-minute session. As of today, the farm's winter page lists 2026-27 dates and prices as coming soon. Since that will be the first tubing season under county management, the ticket structure is the detail to check when the schedule is posted.
Bowers Farm and the Johnson Nature Center are now Bloomfield Township's first county parks. If you'd like to talk through which neighborhoods sit closest to the farm and the nature center, Erin Dewald knows these roads well. Let's Connect.
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