Ron Dell’Osso grew up on the family farm.

As a kid when he wasn’t doing chores or helping his dad, he would invite his friends “from the city” to partake in activities Tom Sawyer could appreciate.

It was back in the early 1960s.

There were no video games or smartphones.

TV was a choice of three channels — assuming the antenna could pick them up without a lot of snow.

So, when his friends from Tracy dropped by the family farm along the banks of the San Joaquin River, outdoor fun ruled the day with a dash of imagination and a lot of improvisation.

Dirt clod wars took place around the brick silos that are still standing a century after they were built by Ron’s grandfather Alfredo who, along with his two brothers from Italy, made their way to Lathrop to start farming with asparagus serving as their first crop.

Ron as a kid would climb trees with his friends who tried to emulate Tarzan as only 10-year-old boys can do, went frogging, captured crawdads, and let their imaginations run wild.

He followed in his father’s footsteps and still farms today.

Ron is a successful farmer with a diverse crop line-up.

That said, the most valuable harvest the family farm land provides today, is the magic that comes with having simple fun that kids are robbed of today by the onslaught of technology.

And Ron provides — along with his wife Susan — memoires by the bushel.

The low-tech fun starts Friday, Oct. 3 — and runs daily throughout Halloween — when the gates open for the 29th annual Dell’Osso Pumpkin Maze.

It’s much more than a maze.

Ron, the quintessential big kid even though he is much closer to 70 than 7, along with Susan has created the low-tech antidote to today’s plugged in world

One of his favorite creations are the pumpkin blasters that visitors can load with the perfect fruit for a weapon — apples — that are shot bazooka style at 90 plus toward objects crying out to be dinged.

What kind of farmer comes up with an idea like that?

Try one whose mom ignored numerous hints to get him a plastic gun for Christmas.

It was back then when kids circled items in bulky JC Penney catalogues instead of browsing the Internet.

One wonders how things might have turned out if his mother gave in and bought Ron that toy gun.

He might have had to rely less on his imagination to have fun as a kid and could have reacted to the idea of planting a maze and selling tickets so city folks could get out and walk around his farm much like his farming colleagues did that thought he had lost his mind.

The annual Dell’Osso Family Farm Pumpkin Maze that grew from his imagination 29 years ago is nestled between Interstate 5, the San Joaquin River, and River Islands at Lathrop.

With average attendance each October exceeding 150,000, it is considered California’s largest ag attraction that isn’t the state fair or a county fair.

Susan Dell’Osso noted they get people every year who’ve made it a family tradition to keep coming back. They even have those that came out to the farm as children that are now bringing their kids.

The corn maze and other attractions are on the same farmland that Ron — who is now 69 years old — grew up on as a boy.

As Dell’Osso was preparing for the first month-long corn maze with several other attractions in 1997, his fellow farmers thought he was crazy. They doubted anyone would pay to go out to a farm.

Now that Dell’Osso Farm has soared past four million visitors and employs 450 people each season, no one is calling Dell’Osso crazy.

Blasters idea inspired by Ron

Dell’Osso’s ‘worst’ Christmas ever

And while most other attractions such as the corn maze, railroad, tire pyramid climbing, and haunted house, to name a few, were inspired by Ron’s favorite childhood memories, there is one that wasn’t.

The pumpkin blasters that resemble bazookas are the result of a childhood disappointment.

His mom used JC Penney catalogues for her children to drop “hints” at what they might like to see under the Christmas tree each year. Typically, they circled six apiece and their mom would pick one.

As a seven-year-old, Ron circled only one item that he really, really wanted: A plastic machine gun that shot off plastic bullets while resting on a tri-pod.

Ron was more than crestfallen when he opened his present on Christmas morning and discovered his mother had gotten him a coat instead.

“It wasn’t that she was against guns,” Ron Dell’Osso recalled in an interview several years ago. “We had guns and my dad would take us hunting. It’s just that she didn’t think a young boy needed a make-believe machine gun.”

Dell’Osso never forgot about the gift he never got.

Then he saw a pumpkin chucking competition carried on TV. That’s where participants used various devices to hurl regular sized pumpkins through the air.

But it had one drawback. People could watch but they couldn’t participate as they were forced to stay far away behind rope.

He thought there had to be a way people could fire off pumpkins for fun and do so safely.

So, after the fourth season of running the corn maze, Dell’Osso decided to head out to his shop to try his hand at fashioning a “machine gun” that could shoot pumpkins. The first prototype was fashioned out of PVC pipe. After four days he finally got one that used air pressure to fire a pumpkin.

It was a dud.

The pumpkins only went four to 10 feet.

He gave up — but just for about a week.

Dell’Osso went back to the shop and continued tinkering.

Then they hit pay dirt on the seventh prototype.

Since they no longer had pumpkins, they went to Costco and got a few cases of oranges.

Little did he know oranges due to being circular orbs and being basically the same size due to how they were packed and sorted were the perfect ammo.

From his shop near the two landmark brick silos at Dell’Osso Farms, they watched as the oranges were propelled 400 plus feet with no problem at all. Fine tuning it allowed then to send an orange from the silos clear across nearby Interstate 5.

He enlisted the help of Butch (a gentleman who has since passed away) to fabricate the devices out of sheet metal and other parts.

The destructive power of flying pumpkins is evidenced by the targets that guests shoot at. Each year they bring in vehicles that don’t run but otherwise are in near perfect condition in terms of the body. On the first day of each season, the windows go first. Then it’s open season on the rest of the body. By the time Oct. 31 rolls around it is next to impossible to determine what make and model many of the vehicles are given they are shot up that much.

Ron switched to apples a few years ago as they are closer to a true cannon ball shape that makes them the perfect ammo.

Thrill Hill is new this year

Thrill Hill is, without a doubt, the longest slide in San Joaquin County.

The former snow hill that was used for Holidays on the Farm has been converted to a dry slide using plastic.

“It’s just as fast (going down) as snow tubing,” said Susan Dell’Osso.

The slide is included in the price of admission to the month-long attraction that includes everything from a scaled train ride and haunted house to the maze and numerous family attractions such as pedal car racing.

It will not have a “moving sidewalk” to take people to the top from the bottom.

And no, it doesn’t mean Holidays on the Farm that also featured a skating rink and drive-thru Christmas light displays will be back.

That offering was discontinued due to issues getting seasonal workers during the holidays.

The Pumpkin Maze, though, is here to stay.

That was made clear last year when a 40-stall bathroom was installed eliminating the use of porta-potties save for several that are placed in the parking lot.

There is also a massive pumpkin patch — arguably the largest in the area — where kids of all ages search for the perfect pumpkin.

In addition to the food court, there is a country store with fresh baked goods such as pies and apple spice doughnuts, as well as fudge, cookies, and other treats.

And to top off the perfect date night there’s Cider Hill. It features craft beers, hard cider and homemade pizza.

Most of the attractions are included with admission. The maze opens at noon Mondays through Fridays and at 10 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday. The last admission is 7 p.m. nightly while attractions start closing at 8 p.m.

Admission is $23.95 Monday through Thursday, $28.95 Friday, and $32.95 on Saturday as well as Sunday. Children 2 and under are free. Season passes are $85. Parking is free.

Susan Dell’Osso said the opening weekend — all attractions will be open — as well as weekdays are the best time to go for locals as the crowds are smaller and the Bay Area attendees haven’t started packing the farm.

For more information go to pumpkinmaze.com.