The dirt lot across from Ottawa University in Surprise City Center is, for a few more weeks, a place where a child can sit in a real excavator and move dirt.
The Desert Fall Festival is in its second year at 14470 W. Tierra Buena Lane, near Bullard Avenue. It opened Sept. 25 and runs through Sunday, Nov. 1. Its website lists more than 20 attractions, among them a 40-foot zipline, a 90-foot slide, cannons that fire apples at old vehicles, axe throwing, a mechanical bull, a maze of glowing pumpkins and, new this year, a roller rink.
It is a private event on public land. The festival is produced by West Valley Events and Marketing LLC, founded and run by Jordan and Shanelle Kunz, who also operate the Desert Farm Lights holiday show. The company rents the site from the city, and on Sept. 1 the City Council took up a plan to reimburse it up to $30,000 a year from the city's tourism fund.
If you go
- Where: 14470 W. Tierra Buena Lane, Surprise. Parking is free.
- When, through Oct. 18: Wednesday and Thursday, 5 to 10 p.m.; Friday, 5 to 11 p.m.; Saturday, 4 to 11 p.m.; Sunday, 4 to 10 p.m. Closed Monday and Tuesday.
- When, Oct. 19 to Oct. 30: Open every day. Monday through Thursday, 5 to 10 p.m.; Friday, 5 to 11 p.m.; Saturday, 4 to 11 p.m.; Sunday, 4 to 10 p.m.
- Halloween weekend: Saturday, Oct. 31, and Sunday, Nov. 1, 4 to 10 p.m.
- Last entry: One hour before closing.
- Admission: $24.95 online, $26.99 at the gate. Children 2 and under are free; everyone 3 and older pays full price. A season pass is $56.95. Military members get 10% off at the gate with ID.
- Tickets: thedesertfallfestival.com. All sales are final, though a ticket can be moved to another date of equal value. If a night sells out online, it is sold out at the gate too.
- Good to know: The festival is mostly cashless. Only trained service dogs are allowed.
What admission covers, and what it does not
This is the part to read before you buy.
The festival's ticket page sells "credits" on top of admission: $8 for one, $15 for three or $24 for six. One credit buys one turn at the roller rink (skates included), the zipline, the apple cannons (five apples), axe throwing (five throws) or the mechanical bull, or one small pumpkin. The excavator dig is included with admission for children 10 and under; for anyone 11 or older it costs a credit. Credits can be shared and used on any night this season.
A family of four paying online would spend $99.80 to get in, before credits or food.
There are free line dancing lessons Wednesday and Thursday from 6 to 9 p.m., and live music nightly, according to the site. Food includes wood-fired pizza, al pastor tacos, mac and cheese, caramel apples and apple cider slushies topped with mini donuts.
Who is behind it
The Kunzes started Desert Farm Lights in 2022 and added the fall festival in 2025. Shanelle Kunz told ABC15 last month that the excavators began with their son, then 7, who said he thought it would be cool to run a real one. "And we thought so too," she said.
In an application to the city, the company describes the festival as "a grassroots, self-funded project by the owners" and puts this year's budget at $1,159,000. The largest lines are $350,000 for staff, $120,000 for the roller rink, $100,000 for photo backdrops, $100,000 for marketing and $80,000 for the excavators. It lists $40,000 for pumpkins.
The application says the festival employs more than 200 part-time workers and that about 80% of them live in Surprise.
What the city is putting in
The festival sits on city-owned land, which the company rents through the city's Economic Development Department.
Separately, the company applied in March for money from the city's tourism fund. The application form shows a request of $250,000. A council subcommittee recommended $30,000 a year on June 16, and the item reached the full council Sept. 1.
The money comes from the city's tax on hotel stays, not from the general fund, and it is paid only after the fact. Under the terms presented to the council:
- $2,500 for every 2,000 people who attend, up to $20,000.
- $2,500 for every 100 hotel room nights verified in Surprise, up to $10,000.
- No more than $30,000 in a fiscal year, for up to three years, through June 2029, as long as the festival stays in City Center.
- The money can repay only what the company spent on city land or facility rent, or on marketing that names Surprise, Arizona.
By that formula the festival reaches the full attendance payment at 16,000 visitors and the full hotel payment at 400 room nights. The company projects 50,000 to 60,000 visits and 1,100 room nights this year. The city's budget book says last year's festival drew more than 40,000.
"This is reimbursement only," said Kendra Pettis, the city's sports and tourism director. "Only if they hit those requirements and are verified, then they would be eligible for the reimbursement."
The company estimates the festival's economic impact at $3 million to $5 million. That figure is the company's own, which its application says is based on cellphone location data from the firm Placer.ai and "outside projections." The same data, it says, showed 20% of last year's visitors went on to a Surprise restaurant and 15% went shopping.
The vice mayor Greenberg thanked Jordan Kunz at the meeting for investing in the city and said families tell him they want more to do in Surprise. Before that, he had a question: "When do we get to shoot this year with the apple cannon?"