Great places to get your pick of the pumpkin patch
Whether you're looking for Halloween decorations or pie ingredients, there are plenty of local spots you can visit to take full advantage of pumpkin season. Along with getting to pick the best gourd of the patch, local farms feature tons of activities for fall family fun.
• Johansen Farms, 710 W. Boughton Road, Bolingbrook, (630) 759-8711; johansenfarms.com
Hours: 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily through Saturday, Oct. 31
Price: $7.50 weekdays; $10.50 weekends and Columbus Day; free for kids under age 2
The huge pumpkin patch at Johansen Farms features 25,000 pumpkins to choose from. The farm also sells apple cider doughnuts and fresh-baked pumpkin, apple, caramel apple nut and peach berry pies. Along with getting their pick of the gourds, kids can navigate through a corn maze, play on inflatable slides, take a hayride and pet goats in their pens and more than 175 rabbits living in a house built to look like a bunny hotel.
"Baby chicks are one of the biggest attractions," said co-owner Carol Johansen Cremeens. "The chicks can all be held."
• Kinsch Village Florist & Garden Center, 301 W. Johnson St., Palatine, (847) 359-1182; kinschflorist.com
Hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday through Sunday
Price: $1; $6 for kids under age 12
Kinsch's annual Autumn Fun Fest is bigger than ever this year, said festival organizer Diane Kinsch. Partnering with Kohl Children's Museum and several local vendors, the event includes miniature golf, play areas, scarecrow making, crafts, games, a homegrown half-acre corn maze and local and national performers. Kids can pick a pumpkin from their mini-pumpkin patch and sit and decorate it. This year's offerings are especially friendly to families with younger children.
"We created a tiny tyke play tent mainly geared for toddlers and crawlers," Kinsch said. "In there we built a barnyard maze, a little racetrack and a big play area. Kids hang out there for hours."
• Siegel's Cottonwood Farm, 17250 S. Weber Road, Crest Hill, (815) 741-2693; ourpumpkinfarm.com
Hours: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily through Sunday, Nov. 1
Price: $12; free for kids under age 3
A working family farm for 100 years, Siegel's celebrates fall with plenty of family activities. There are hayrides out to the U-Pick pumpkin field, a corn maze with 51/2 miles of paths, a haunted barn, a climbing wall, a petting zoo and a baby chick nursery. The farm also offers plenty of snacks including kettle corn, cookies, apple cider doughnuts and smoked turkey legs.
• Stade's Farm & Market, 3709 Miller Road, McHenry, (815) 675-6396; shadesofautumn.net
Hours: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, Sunday and Columbus Day through Sunday, Nov. 1
Price: Free admission. $1.50 to $3 per attraction
The Shades of Autumn fall festival at Stade's is packed with activities, including pedal car tracks, rides on a corn harvesting machine, a corn maze, a petting zoo, pony rides and live music. Families can take a free hayride to the 35-acre pumpkin patch to pick out their gourds. The farm store also does a brisk business in doughnuts, pies and fall decorations. Each day crops are spectacularly destroyed through air-powered cannons that launch corn and pumpkins at targets up to a half-mile away.
"Every week we destroy a car or pickup truck," said owner Vern Stade. "We shoot pumpkins at it every hour at the top of the hour."
• Windy Acres, 37W446 Fabyan Parkway, Geneva, (630) 232-6429; windyacresfarmstand.com
Hours: 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily through Sunday, Nov. 1
Price: Free admission. $2-$3 per attraction
Offering activities for kids' of all ages, Windy Acres features a corn maze and a play area with bounce houses and slides. A petting zoo features goats, pigs, a donkey, chickens, geese and a llama. A tractor wagon ride will take you out to pick your own pumpkin or you can just choose from a pile at the store. You can purchase pumpkin-decorating tools, decorations, caramel apples and plenty of other farm-fresh produce.
"We've got tons of varieties of apples," said manager Kristin Srail. "We still have sweet corn and tomatoes here from our fields, plenty of squash and different kinds of funky gourds."