Wiard's Orchards Is Fall in Washtenaw County

Some places run on a calendar. Wiard's Orchards, at 5565 Merritt Road in Ypsilanti, sleeps through winter, stirs in summer, and comes fully alive in September. By October, the parking lot is full, the corn maze is running, and the smell of hot cider donuts carries across the property. For families in Washtenaw County, Wiard's is not a farm you visit. It is something you do every year.

The Cider Mill

The orchard store opens in early September and anchors the operation. Fresh-pressed cider is the draw, sold by the half gallon and gallon, tart and cloudy and better cold. Cider donuts come out of the fryer warm, coated in cinnamon sugar, and disappear before they cool down. A dozen runs around $10.^{1Prices approximate as of fall 2025. Admission and activity pricing varies by day and season.}

Apple varieties rotate through the season. Honeycrisp, Gala, Fuji, and whatever else the trees are producing that week. The store stocks local honey, jams, and seasonal produce alongside the cider and donuts. It functions as a farm stand with a specific identity: fall, concentrated.

Washtenaw County has several cider mill options. Dexter Cider Mill to the west is the oldest continuously operating mill in Michigan, with an oak press and a setting on the Huron River that is hard to match. Wiard's competes on a different axis. Where Dexter keeps it minimal (cider, donuts, river), Wiard's expands the scope.

The Full Experience

Hayrides run through the orchard on weekends. A corn maze gives families a reason to stay for an hour beyond the donut stop. U-pick pumpkins let kids choose their own from the field, which is the kind of activity that sounds simple and produces memories that last twenty years. The Night Terrors haunted attraction runs in October for the older crowd, turning the farm into something louder and darker after sundown.

Admission to the main attractions varies by activity and day. Weekends in October are the peak. Expect crowds, expect lines at the donut window, and expect the parking lot to test your patience. A weekday visit in September or early October is the move if you want the farm without the festival.

The Merritt Road Location

Wiard's sits south of Ypsilanti proper, on Merritt Road between US-23 and Whittaker Road. It is not on the way to anything else. You drive there on purpose, and when you arrive, you are on a working farm surrounded by orchards and fields. The isolation is part of the appeal. It feels removed from the strip malls and chain restaurants on Washtenaw Avenue in a way that 15 minutes of driving should not be able to produce.

For Ypsilanti, Wiard's represents a part of the city's identity that is easy to overlook. The food conversation in Ypsi tends to center on Depot Town, on Sidetrack and 734 Brewing and the restaurants along Cross Street. Wiard's reminds you that the area's food roots are agricultural. Before the restaurants, before the breweries, there were orchards and farms. Some of them are still here.

The orchard store closes when the season ends, usually around Thanksgiving. The farm goes quiet. And then September comes around again, and the donuts come out of the fryer, and the parking lot fills, and Washtenaw County does what it does every fall.

Wiard's Orchards is at 5565 Merritt Rd, Ypsilanti. Seasonal operation; orchard store opens early September. Check their website for current hours, admission, and event schedules.