The campus Lehi
One nonprofit campus, seven ticketed venues
Thanksgiving Point, one campus with seven ticketed venues
A nonprofit founded in 1995 on Lehi farm ground bought that February, running a row of ticketed venues along Thanksgiving Way: two museums, fifty acres of garden, a rebuilt working farm, a butterfly house, an indoor playground opened at the end of 2024, and a carousel. Here is how the tickets work, the hours, the Sunday rule, the festivals in the gardens, and the corn maze on the grounds that belongs to somebody else.
By Scott Buehler, Moving Utah
Updated October 2026
The short answer
Thanksgiving Point is a nonprofit campus of ticketed venues in Lehi, just off I-15 at exit 284, and the single most useful thing to know is that the whole place closes on Sunday. As of 2026 it runs seven ticketed venues, each selling its own timed ticket, from a dinosaur museum with sixty mounted skeletons to fifty acres of garden, plus a working farm, a butterfly house, an indoor playground and a carousel, and it has added to that roster steadily, so treat any fixed count as a snapshot. Admission to a single venue runs in the mid twenties for an adult, a few dollars less online, with an All-Access Pass that covers all seven venues for a day. This page is the manual for the campus itself: the venues, the prices, the hours, the festivals in the gardens, and the corn maze on the grounds that belongs to somebody else.
Start here
A farm bought as a gift in 1995, a whole campus today
Thanksgiving Point is a nonprofit institution, not a theme park and not a municipal facility, and the distinction shows up in almost everything about how it runs. Alan and Karen Ashton founded it in 1995, the year they bought the Lehi farm ground it stands on, and the purchase is dated to Valentine's Day that February. Roughly 550 acres were assembled in the early years, though the numbers that matter for a visit are the per venue ones rather than a campus total.
What sits there now is a row of ticketed venues along Thanksgiving Way beside I-15 exit 284, and sharing a Sunday closing day. Two of them are newer than most published lists: Curiosity Farms, rebuilt at about nine acres and reopened in late September 2024 on the ground once called Farm Country, and Mountain America Jurassic Jungle, a large indoor prehistoric playground that opened at the end of 2024. The Carousel is the most recent addition, and a ropes course runs on the grounds in season, which is why any hard count of venues goes out of date every couple of years.
The campus is also the valley's festival ground. Several dated events run here across the year, from tulips in spring to a light walk that carries through the winter, and the corn maze on the grounds in fall belongs to somebody else entirely. Everything closes on Sunday, which is the single most useful sentence on this page and the one most often left out of a listing.
The campus, in facts
1995
founded, on farm ground bought that February
7
ticketed venues, each with its own timed ticket, as of 2026
60
mounted dinosaur skeletons in one museum
50
acres of garden in seventeen themed spaces
The venues
One campus, and no two venues the same kind of day
This is the table the campus's own signage does not give you. Each venue is ticketed separately, most at the same rate, each absorbs a different amount of time, and choosing wrongly is the difference between a good day and an expensive lap of the parking lots.
| The venue | What is inside it | Time it absorbs | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mountain America Museum of Ancient Life | Sixty mounted dinosaur skeletons and dozens of hands on exhibits | Half a day | One of the larger mounted dinosaur displays anywhere, and the reason most first visits happen |
| Museum of Natural Curiosity | A hands on museum of several hundred exhibits built around play rather than cases | Half a day | The venue that rewards arriving at opening more than any other |
| Ashton Gardens | Fifty acres, seventeen themed spaces and the Light of the World bronze sculpture garden | Two to three hours | Renamed from Thanksgiving Gardens in 2016; the waterfall is switched off for water conservation |
| Curiosity Farms | About nine acres of working farm, rebuilt and reopened in late September 2024 | Two hours | This is what Farm Country became. Older listings still use the old name |
| Butterfly Biosphere | A live butterfly house with a wider insect collection around it | An hour to ninety minutes | The shortest of the main venues, and the easiest to pair with another |
| Mountain America Jurassic Jungle | A large indoor prehistoric playground, opened at the end of 2024 | Ninety minutes to a session | Priced separately from the rest, on a timed online reservation |
| The Carousel | A ride on the grounds, the most recent venue added | A quick stop | A small ticketed ride rather than a half day venue, priced on its own |
A ropes course, a golf course and an outdoor event field also operate on the grounds. The venue roster changes every couple of years, so check the campus for the current list and the admission for any one venue before planning a visit around it alone.
What it costs and when it opens
One schedule for most of them, and separate tickets for the rest
Admission to a single venue runs in the mid twenties for an adult at the gate, a few dollars less if you buy online, with lower rates for seniors, teens and children and under twos free. Ashton Gardens, the two museums, Curiosity Farms and the Butterfly Biosphere each sell their own timed ticket. Jurassic Jungle sells on a timed online reservation rather than at a gate, and The Carousel is a small ride ticketed on its own.
Two things bring the cost down. One All-Access Pass covers all seven venues for a day. In 2026 it costs $39 for an adult, $33 for ages 13 to 17, $29 for ages 3 to 12 and $36 for seniors 65 and older, and it pays for itself the moment a visit covers two venues. Check the campus site for current prices before you go.
Hours are Monday to Saturday, roughly nine in the morning to eight at night, with Ashton Gardens open later in season. Every venue is closed on Sunday, on Thanksgiving Day and on Christmas Day. There is no reduced Sunday pattern and no partial opening, which turns a Sunday plan into a drive past a row of parking lots.
A membership is the other lever, and the valley wide survey on the Utah Valley family weekends guide prices that decision against the rest of the county rather than in isolation. That guide is the one to read if the question is which outing in the valley to spend a Saturday on. This one is the manual for the campus itself.
The waterfall the gardens are photographed for is switched off, and the pictures that sell the visit all include it. Ashton Gardens has long billed its waterfall as the largest manmade one in America, and as of 2026 it is turned off under the Lehi Water Conservation Management Plan. Nothing else about the gardens changes: the fifty acres, the seventeen themed spaces, the Light of the World bronze garden, the Tulip Festival in spring and the light walk in winter all run as normal. But almost every photograph in circulation was taken with the water running, so a visit planned specifically around the falls deserves a check with the campus first rather than a surprise at the top of the hill.
The dated events
Tulips, storytellers, quilts and lights, and every one of them moves each year
The campus carries a handful of events that people plan a year around, spread deliberately so that no two collide. Each has a different ticketing model and each shifts its dates a week or two annually, so the windows below are the seasons to plan on, not dates to book on.
| The event | When | How it is ticketed | Where on the campus |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Tulip Festival | Spring, roughly early April into the middle of May, with hundreds of thousands of tulips | Timed tickets | Ashton Gardens |
| Timpanogos Storytelling Festival | Early September | Tiered passes, usually with a lower priced Thursday preview | Ashton Gardens |
| Garden of Quilts | September | Ticketed separately from general admission | Ashton Gardens |
| Luminaria | Mid November into early January, a winter light walk | Timed entry, and the early evening slots go first; the gardens close for a stretch before it opens | Ashton Gardens |
| The Freedom Celebration | Around the Fourth of July, with evening fireworks | Free | Electric Park |
Every one of these shifts by a week or two each year, and the next season's dates are often unpublished until a few months out, so plan on the season and book on the campus calendar. The storytelling festival runs its own ticketing separately from general admission.
A campus full of festivals, and not one of them keeps the same dates two years running.
The one that is not theirs
The corn maze on the grounds is run by somebody else entirely
Cornbelly's is the fall corn maze and pumpkin festival that occupies the north end of the campus grounds every year, and it is the single most misattributed thing in Lehi. It is independently operated, and it has its own tickets, its own hours, its own calendar and its own staff. Standing on somebody's land is not the same as being one of their venues.
That matters practically rather than pedantically. A campus membership does not admit you. A campus ticket does not admit you. The campus opening hours do not apply. And when the maze's dates change, which they do most years, the change does not appear on the institution's calendar because it is not the institution's event.
The season runs from mid or late September to October 31, and the maze traces back to the mid 1990s, which makes it one of the older corn mazes in the state. The exact dates move each year, so this page gives the shape of the season and points you to the operator for the current window.
The valley's other working farm seasons, and how they price against each other, sit on the Utah Valley family weekends guide, which covers the whole fall across the county rather than the piece of it that happens to be in Lehi.
The rule of thumb is simple: if it involves corn, it is not the campus. Cornbelly's tickets are sold by Cornbelly's, at cornbellys.com, and its opening dates are announced by Cornbelly's. Everything else on the grounds, the ticketed venues, the gardens, the festivals in the gardens and the events at the outdoor field, runs on the institution's own schedule and its own tickets.
Where this sits
One campus, inside a city and a valley that carry the rest
This page is the manual for one address off exit 284. What surrounds it, in Lehi and across the valley, is written elsewhere and linked here.
The valley
Family weekends in Utah Valley
Nine valley outings priced and seasoned, with this campus standing first among them.
Read the guideThe city
The top 8 in Lehi, ranked
Where the campus sits against the mill, the museum, the river outlet and a rodeo week in June.
Read the guideTen minutes away
The Jordan River headwater
The one gap where Utah Lake becomes a river: gates, a pumping plant and an 1885 rule.
Read the guideThe old town
Lehi Roller Mills
A working flour mill on Main Street since 1906, a 1984 film, a store six days a week and no tour.
Read the guideThe region
Utah Valley on The Local
Nineteen cities and seven valley subjects, including the lake, the mountain and the bench trail.
Open the hubThe numbers
The Lehi city guide
Cost of living, schools, neighborhoods, commute and market, none of it repeated here.
Read the guide
Scott Buehler
Moving Utah About Scott
Keep reading
More of Lehi on The Local
Things to do
The top 8, ranked
Eight entries, ranked, each with its operator, its fee and its Sunday rule attached.
Read the guideThe corridor
Silicon Slopes
A nickname, a nonprofit and five campuses, with the announced kept apart from the built.
Read the guideSince 1906
Lehi Roller Mills
Flour since 1906, a 1984 film, a store open six days a week, and no tour to book.
Read the guideWhere it starts
The Jordan River headwater
Where Utah Lake empties: an 1885 agreement, a pumping plant and a trail that starts.
Read the guideMoving here
South of the Point
The Utah County side of the gap: one finished widening, one live build, one grant track.
Read the guideThe companion
Lehi, in one place
The campus, the mill, the river outlet, the corridor and the eight ranked entries.
Read the pageQuick answers
The campus, answered
Seven ticketed venues as of 2026, plus a seasonal ropes course, and the campus has added to that roster repeatedly in recent years, so any fixed count is a snapshot. The seven are the Mountain America Museum of Ancient Life, the Museum of Natural Curiosity, Ashton Gardens, Curiosity Farms, the Butterfly Biosphere, Mountain America Jurassic Jungle and The Carousel. The two that older lists miss are Curiosity Farms, which reopened in late September 2024 on the ground once called Farm Country, and Jurassic Jungle, which opened at the end of 2024. A golf course and an outdoor event field also operate on the grounds without being ticketed venues.
Admission to a single venue runs in the mid twenties for an adult at the gate, a few dollars less if you buy online, with lower rates for seniors, teens and children and under twos free. Ashton Gardens, the two museums, Curiosity Farms and the Butterfly Biosphere each sell their own timed ticket, and one All-Access Pass covers all seven venues for a day, which pays for itself the moment a visit covers two venues. Jurassic Jungle sells on a timed reservation, and The Carousel is a small ride ticketed on its own.
No. Every venue on the campus is closed on Sunday, and also on Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day. There is no reduced Sunday timetable and no partial opening, so a Sunday plan built around the campus fails completely rather than partly. Regular hours are Monday to Saturday, roughly nine in the morning to eight at night, with Ashton Gardens open later in season. That Sunday rule catches out more first visits here than anything else on the campus.
It was rebuilt and renamed. The venue was renovated, expanded to about nine acres and reopened as Curiosity Farms in late September 2024, so any listing that still says Farm Country is describing the previous version of the same ground. It remains a working farm venue with its own ticket, like the museums and the gardens. If you are planning a visit around that venue alone, check its current admission with the campus first.
Not currently. Ashton Gardens has long billed its waterfall as the largest manmade one in America, and as of 2026 it is switched off under the Lehi Water Conservation Management Plan. The rest of the gardens is unaffected: fifty acres, seventeen themed spaces, the Light of the World bronze sculpture garden, the Tulip Festival in spring and the light walk through the winter all run as normal. Photographs in circulation almost all predate the change.
No, and this is the most common misattribution in Lehi. Cornbelly's is independently operated, on the campus grounds. It sells its own tickets, keeps its own hours and publishes its own calendar, so a campus membership does not admit you and the campus opening hours do not apply. Its season runs from mid or late September to October 31, and the exact window belongs on its own site rather than here.
In spring, at Ashton Gardens, on timed tickets. It usually runs from early April into the middle of May, with hundreds of thousands of tulips planted for it, and the dates move every year with the season and the bulbs. The last week of any tulip season is weather dependent by nature, so the middle weeks are the reliable ones and the campus calendar is the one to book against.
One of the country's larger storytelling festivals, held at Ashton Gardens on the Thanksgiving Point campus in early September. It runs across several days on tiered passes, usually with a lower priced Thursday preview ahead of the full event. It is a separate organization from the campus with its own ticketing, in the same way the fall corn maze is, and the gardens are the venue rather than the promoter.
Half a day per major venue, and a full day if you are using an all access pass across two of them. The two museums each absorb half a day comfortably, the gardens take two to three hours at a walk, Curiosity Farms takes about two hours, and the butterfly house is the shortest at an hour to ninety minutes. Jurassic Jungle runs as a timed session and The Carousel is a quick stop. The classic error is attempting three venues in an afternoon and finishing all three badly, which the pricing quietly encourages.
One campus, and a city that is not only a campus
Plenty of households first meet Lehi through a dinosaur museum and a tulip festival, and then discover the city underneath: a working flour mill, a rodeo week in June, a river that starts at the bottom of town, and a freeway gap that decides a working day. If the campus at ten minutes rather than at forty is starting to look like a reason to move, tell me what you are weighing. I will put you with a Utah County partner agent who works this end of the valley, and stay on the file for the financing side.
Or call Scott: (435) 357-4345or send Scott a message
Keep going
Continue your Lehi research
Eight more doors into Lehi, chosen for what this page covers.
Questions about Lehi?
Call Scott, send a message, or find out what your Lehi home is worth. No pressure, no obligation.
Referral Disclosure: For moves outside Southern Utah, I can connect you with trusted local agents. If you choose to work with one, their brokerage pays my brokerage (Real Broker, LLC) a referral fee from their commission. This costs you nothing extra, and you are never obligated to use my referral.