A record one-day crowd of 25,000 people made their way through the Dell’Osso Farms pumpkin maze on Saturday cementing the Lathrop attraction as California’s No. 1 agri-tourism destination for yet another year.

Traffic at times backed up to the Interstate 5 off ramps.

“We were very, very busy on Saturday,” noted Susan Dell’Osso who, along with her husband Ron, started the October attraction 16 years ago.

They expect to match or surpass a previous record of more than 155,000 guests by the time the last visitor enters the corn maze at 8 p.m. on Halloween. Given that the current year’s run is a week shorter than in the past, Dell’Osso noted this could end up being the best year ever for the Lathrop attraction that includes a haunted mansion, pumpkin patch, country store, zip lines, rope course, train, pumpkin blasters, and well over a dozen other attractions in addition to the corn maze.

Had the winds not picked up significantly Sunday afternoon Dell’Osso said it could have been a record weekend as well.

The success of the corn maze has created 450 seasonal jobs with a payroll in excess of $1 million.

Attendance during weekdays was up over last year as well.

“We think local people figured the best time to come out was during the week or week nights when there aren’t as big crowds,” she said.

Dell’Osso Farms is open today, Wednesday and Thursday (Halloween) from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. before closing for the season. There is no admission to the grounds or for parking. There are a number of attractions that do not have a charge.

Some of the charges are $5 per bucket of ammo for the pumpkin blasters; $14 all-day ticket for adults gets unlimited access to the maze and the haunted mansion (equal access for kids ages 4 to 8 is $10); zip line rides start at $6 and the ropes course starts at $10 as is admission to the grounds and parking. For more information go to www.pumpkinmaze.com.

Holidays on the Farm that includes ice skating, snow tubing, and drive-thru light displays will start a week later this year on Saturday, Dec. 7. The holiday attraction draws somewhat smaller crowds generating about 75 seasonal jobs.