Halloween fun at Sonny Acres Farm fall festival
Halloween is still a few weeks away, but families found plenty of spooky fall fun Sunday at Sonny Acres Farm's fall festival in West Chicago.
A haunted barn, carnival rides, a giant slide and pony rides were among the activities younger visitors could enjoy, while their parents could choose from a huge selection of pumpkins and gourds, and taste a variety of foods ranging from doughnuts to elotes.
The fall fest is a family tradition, both for patrons and Sonny Acres' owners.
"It was the growing of an acorn," manager Tom "Sonny" Feltes said. "My father put out some pumpkins. He had extra vegetables that he grew. And he put them on a table in front of the road. That's how it all got started."
Feltes and his family could be found working all over the farm Sunday. Tom was at a wagon unloading straw while granddaughter Emma Langer, 16, sold pumpkins from a stand. Her father, Eric Langer, manned the Haunted Barn, located in a structure that dates back to 1892.
Langer said normally he would have been in costume, but the rainy weather Sunday foiled that plan. He has 20 years of experience with the haunted barn. When he began dating his wife, Brandie, in college, she brought him home to meet her parents.
"They discovered that I had haunted house experience, and they said, 'We have just the thing for you.'"
Despite damp weather and a muddy parking lot, Sunday's event attracted a crowd.
Jill Panzica of Elmhurst was there to hold a birthday party for her son, A.J., who turns 3 this month.
"We wanted to always have it in a pumpkin patch," she said.