Freddy Hill Farms and Freddy’s Family Fun Center, a Montgomery County institution, will close at end of 2025 season, family says
"We are looking forward to retirement after decades of running rewarding and challenging businesses,” the family owners said in a statement.
The popular Freddy Hill Farms and Freddy’s Family Fun Center, a Montgomery County institution that survived for decades by transforming from its roots as a 19th-century family farm to miniature golf courses and batting cages along with an ice cream shop, will close at the end of its season this year, the family owners announced Friday.
“After heartfelt consideration, we, the Seipt family, have decided to close Freddy Hill Farms and Freddy’s Family Fun Center at the end of the 2025 season. We are looking forward to retirement after decades of running rewarding and challenging businesses,” the family said in a statement.
“It is a bittersweet reality that all good things must come to an end. Our family is deeply grateful for your support over the last 53 years, and for the opportunity to serve our community and our customers. We have enjoyed sharing this fun place with our family and friends, and we hope that you have fond memories as well,” the family said.
Reached by email for further comment, Nancy Seipt, one of the family owners, declined to elaborate on the decision to close or the future of the land.
The new season for the fun center in Towamencin Township began Saturday. “We still have a full season of delicious ice cream and fun center activities ahead,” Seipt said, “... and look forward to seeing our guests after the long winter break.”
Fred L. Seipt, the longtime patriarch of the family-run operation, died in May 2023 at the age of 88. Seipt grew up on his family’s dairy farm, then attended Pennsylvania State University, where he got a degree in dairy husbandry, and where he met his future wife, Joanne, his obituary said. They raised five children on the family’s farm.
“In 1972 they opened the retail store, Freddy Hill, which has thrived for over 50 years, allowing Fred to combine his interest in quality dairy products and indulge his lifelong love of ice cream,” the obituary said.
In a 2016 interview with The Inquirer, Fred Seipt said he had been offered millions of dollars by developers for his struggling Freddy Hill Farms, but he declined, opting instead to preserve the heritage of the farm and find a way to revitalize it.
That happened when Freddy’s Family Fun Center opened in 1991.
For decades, local families have enjoyed the fun center’s two miniature golf courses, a driving range, a pro shop, and baseball batting cages, as well as the ice cream.
On Friday, hundreds of comments swiftly piled up on Facebook under a North Penn Now report about the closing. Many expressed concern for the future of the land and the possibility that it would turn into another expensive suburban housing development.
Others were shocked and saddened by the approaching end of a beloved part of their community’s history.
“This is so sad to hear,” Kim Geiger Rivera wrote. “Freddy Hill Farms has been a part of my life since I was a little girl. I remember going there to buy .25 cent packs of Topps baseball cards with the stale gum inside. As I moved [into] my teen years, I would use the batting cages to practice for softball season.”
She added: “Once I became a mom, I [used] to take my son to play mini golf, use the driving range and get ice cream. By the way, my son loves your banana ice cream. Freddy Hill Farms I am going to miss you. Thank you for bringing so much happiness to many families in our area over the last 53 years.”
Chuck Wilson, chairman of the Towamencin Township Board of Supervisors, said in a statement Friday night that Freddy Hill Farms and Freddy’s Family Fun Center has been a fixture in the community.
”Whether it was enjoying an ice cream cone on a hot summer evening, shopping for pumpkins at the annual fall festival, searching for that perfect Christmas tree, playing a fun round of miniature golf with friends and family, or working on our golf game at the driving range, all of us have fond memories of Freddy Hill,” Wilson said.
“As part of developing our new Comprehensive Plan we are looking at adding zoning options for this and similar parcels with an eye towards preserving open space. Ultimately, it is up to the Seipt family to decide what they want to do with their land. We thank them for the great times and wish them the best.”