Five SouthCoast Alpaca Farms Taking Part in ‘Paca Run’ This Month

Get ready to hop from farm to farm and visit a whole lot of alpacas this fall during the all-new Paca Run, hosted by five alpaca farms across the SouthCoast.

On September 25 and 26 between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. both days, the farms, spanning from Carver to Little Compton and a couple of spots in between, will open to the public, putting their own spin on a poker run. Participants will start the Paca Run with a slip containing a list of participating farms. They'll then have the rest of the weekend to visit all of the farms, where kids will collect a codeword at each and adults will pick a card from a deck of cards at each. Once slips are completed, kids will compete in a raffle and adults will vie for the best overall poker hand, the winners of which will each win a basket of Alpaca products valued at around $250. Winners will be picked after the run is over on Sunday night.

The folks at Pine Meadow Alpacas in Mattapoisett were some of the first to envision the SouthCoast Paca Run after previously participating in the event in Connecticut years ago, and said they're excited for the opportunity to showcase their farm to the public, just as four other farms will have the chance to, as well.

"We’ve wanted to do something like [this] for a couple of years out here and this year we brought the idea to Hill Crest in Dartmouth to see if they’d want to help organize it for National Alpaca Farm days, which is a yearly event where alpaca farms nationwide open their gates to their communities to learn the ins and outs of alpacas," the owners of Pine Meadow Alpacas said. "We’re really excited to bring something like this to our community and showcase what started our farm, alpacas!"

In addition to Pine Meadow, Hill Crest Alpacas in Dartmouth, Hope Alpaca Farm in Little Compton, Ponderosa Paca Farm in Middleboro and Child's Play Alpaca Farm will be participating in the run later this month. Both Pine Meadow and Child's Play will require time slot reservations ahead of time, which will launch on each farm's Facebook page as early as the night of September 20.

All farms will have their alpacas on-site during the event, and one farm will also have food, drink and ice cream for visitors. All farm stores will be open for shopping during the Paca Run.

When you visit an alpaca farm, there's no telling the fun and adorable animals you may encounter. We visited Pine Meadow earlier this year during kidding season, and from the goats and the donkeys to Miss Prickles the porcupine and Fred the pig, there sure were a lot of cute faces to see on the farm.