Ontario’s annual cranberry plunge lets you wade through a sea of fruit

The time of year has come again. Yes, I’m talking about the time of year when we wade through a giant pool of cranberries. The Cranberry Plunge is back for 2025, the annual experience where you can trudge through a sea of floating cranberries at Johnston’s Cranberry Marsh during the cranberry harvest! If you’ve never done it before, it’s something you need to add to your bucket list.

The marsh spans 27 acres, where approximately 300,000 to 400,000 pounds of cranberries are produced and harvested each year.

So, how do the cranberries end up in the water? Cranberries aren’t grown in the water (if that wasn’t obvious), but they’re harvested there, making them easier to pick by the hundreds.

The marsh is tucked along an appropriately named road — Cranberry Road — at Muskoka Lakes Farm & Winery in Bala.

This year, the Cranberry Plunge will run from Sept. 20 to Oct. 26, 2025. Once you arrive, the farm will provide you with chest waders, which allow you to move through the thousands of cranberries without getting wet.

You need a ticket to participate, which is priced at $20 per person.

The plunge area is a bit of a walk from the entrance of the farm – about 10 to 15 minutes. The farm has other activities you can check out after your plunge, such as wine tastings,  wagon rides, or hiking along one of the scenic trails on site.

As for exploring the grounds and participating in other farm festivities, you can book them individually or purchase the all-access pass.

Let’s get plungin’, Ontario (cranberry plunging, that is).

Cranberry Plunge at Johnston’s Cranberry Marsh

Where: Muskoka Lakes Farm & Winery – 1074 Cranberry Rd., Bala, Ont.
When: Sept. 20 to Oct. 26, 2025
Cost: $20 per person

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