The Most Charming Pumpkin Patches Within Driving Distance of Chicago

We’ve reached that phase of fall in Chicago where summer is a distant memory, winter is looming, and Halloween is nigh. But before we all go into social hibernation for the next several months, and before the Halloween hoopla turns our fair city into bewitching bacchanalia, the latter half of October is prime time for one thing: decorative gourds. Now that you’ve gone leaf-peeping, and perhaps even attended a pumpkin festival, why not go full-tilt twee with a wholesome trip to a pumpkin patch? Here are 14 of our favorites from all around Chicagoland.

Goose Island
Distance: 10 minutes from Downtown
It’s basically a pumpkin carnival at Jack’s Pumpkin Pop-Up, a sprawling wonderland of gourds and other fall merriment on Goose Island through November 5. While the massive pop-up is one of Chicago’s foremost Halloween headquarters this year, it’s not all late-night screams and ax-throwing. With more than 10,000 pumpkins to pluck through, spread across a luminous patch filled with haystacks and cornstalks, this is one of the more larger-than-life places to source your pumpkins. There’s also a ton more to eat, do, and see while here, from gem mining to fortune-telling, so come prepared to make a whole day of it.

Lincoln Park
Distance: 10 minutes from Downtown
Here’s one for those of you who don’t have a car. Did you know that Lincoln Park Zoo has a fall festival that’s been going on for years? This year’s festivities include a harvest maze, live music, and attractions like bounce houses and slides—and of course, a pumpkin patch complete with professional pumpkin carvers to show you how to intricately carve your gourd into a silhouette of a lion. For the adults, they’re also hosting a late-night Halloween event where you can explore the zoo at your own leisure without the crowds or kids while sipping on a cocktail or beer.

Lincolnshire
Distance: 50 minutes from Downtown
Though Didier Farms, and its impressive farmstand, closed retail operations in 2022, their spirit lives on via the Happy Times Pumpkin Fest, held through October 29 on the farm grounds. A bastion of family fun, the fest features everything from fresh fudge and a corn maze to camel rides, the Wheels of Agriculture Game Show, apple cider donuts, and something called the Silly String Asylum, where kids can get as wild as they want with the stringy stuff. Of course, there are also plenty of pumpkins for sale, but that almost feels like an afterthought compared to everything else.

Wadsworth
Distance: 1 hour from Downtown
Patch 22 may be smaller than some of the other entries on this list, but it makes up for a lack of insane attractions with the fact that it’s not just a fall pop-up business; Patch 22 is a real, working, active family farm. They have lambs to feed and cows to pet (and bless), and they even have horses and ponies for sale, in case you’re looking to line up a particularly extravagant Christmas gift for somebody.

Lemont
Distance: 1 hour from Downtown
Puckerville Farms is a mainstay in seasonal farm tourism, and for good reason. They focus primarily on pumpkin farming, with 150 acres dedicated to those wonderful gourds (some of which are gigantic), but they also make their own honey as well. Even better, admission is completely free. Come November and December, they also sell Christmas trees.

Homer Glen
Distance: 1 hour from Downtown
The 3.4-mile corn maze at Konow’s is the main attraction (they also offer a half-mile maze for the more casual maze-goer), but they don’t skimp on other fall festivities, either. They have an ongoing fall festival, a corn pit (exactly what you think it is—a ball pit, filled with dried corn kernels), a putting green, and a barn chock-full of pumpkins to purchase. And in addition to the standard petting zoo, they offer meet-and-greets with more exotic animals, like bats, snakes, and skunks.

Sugar Grove
Distance: 1 hour from Downtown
Though it’s not as big of a name as some of the other entries on this list, Sugar Grove has plenty to offer along with its free admission. They have insanely low prices on all of the produce that they grow on-site, and though they don’t offer u-pick, their selection of pumpkins is gigantic. Plus, they have other family fun options, like a corn maze, witch hat ring toss, potato sack races, and good ol’ fashioned tug-of-war.

South Barrington
Distance: 70 minutes from Downtown
A year-round farm and farmstead, Goebbert’s Garden Center boasts over 200 acres of pumpkins and other produce, so if you’re looking to stock up on local produce while finding the perfect pumpkin, look no further. The farm is running a Fall Festival through October, with limited daytime hours on Halloween, complete with a cornucopia of attractions—think corn mazes, camel rides, pig races, a haunted house, and a mechanical dinosaur that eats pumpkins. In addition to pumpkins, guests can also pick caramel apples, pies, and cider donuts.

West Chicago
Distance: 70 minutes from Downtown
Sonny Acres has some longevity in the pumpkin farming game—they’ve been around since 1883. Another family-owned and -operated farm, their name comes from the fact that the first owners of the farm had seven sons. Through October 29, they’re hosting a fall festival featuring food trucks, giant slides, haunted hayrides, folksy live music acts, and (of course) acres and acres of ginormous pumpkins.

Homer Glen
Distance: 90 minutes from Downtown
There's so much to do at Bengtson's, and the farm is well known for it. Of course, they have their share of pumpkins available for purchase (over 300 tons worth, apparently), but that’s not the reason you make the trek to Homer Glen. Admission to Bengtson's includes access to a wide variety of attractions including cow-themed kiddie coasters, haunted barns, petting zoos, and much more. There’s also a Disney-like ride called Tractor Town, wherein little ones embark on personal tractor rides past dancing animals and talking tractors. And in case you’d rather hurl your pumpkin a quarter mile into the air, the Pumpkin Chucker contraption is the attraction for you.

Spring Grove
Distance: 90 minutes from Downtown
We know what you’re thinking: What’s an “adventure farm”? Apparently, it’s a spot that features “the world’s largest” corn maze, gigantic corn pits, zip lines, a 50-foot observation tower, pig races, a gigantic trampoline, a paintball shooting gallery, and more. This is also one of the few farms to offer ORBiting, wherein guests climb inside giant 11’ balls and roll down a hill. Just be sure to do that before the funnel cakes. Oh, and of course, they have a gigantic pumpkin patch featuring over a dozen different varieties of orange beauties.

Kenosha, WI
Distance: 90 minutes from Downtown
If you’re OK crossing state lines, Jerry Smith Produce and Pumpkin Farm offers a ton of attractions at a very reasonable price. For $7 on weekdays or $13 on weekends, you’ll get you access to their gigantic pumpkin patch, as well as unlimited access to their other attractions including a maze, petting zoo, giant bounce pillow, and hay rides. For additional fees, you can level-up your farm fun with camel and pony rides, or brave Dr. Destruction’s Haunted Forest.

Woodstock
Distance: 90 minutes from Downtown
Why not get two classic fall activities in at once, so long as you’re driving outside the city? All Seasons Orchard features a gigantic pumpkin patch with both pre-picked and u-pick varieties available, but stick around and check out the orchard, with over 15,000 trees ripe for the picking! The 30-year-old farm also offers a bevy of requisite activities, like a petting zoo, pony rides, a ropes course, and an apple cannon.

Lowell, IN
Distance: 100 minutes from Downtown
At first blush, there’s not all that much that may make you pick Kregel’s Pumpkin Patch over any of the other entries on this list, until you learn about their slingshot challenge. Kregel’s features a corn maze, a giant slide, and u-pick and pre-picked pumpkins available at both a farmers market and a patch once it opens on September 29. But for fans of the Discovery Channel, the slingshot challenge allows you to load up a small pumpkin in a gigantic rubber slingshot to attempt to hit a target hundreds of feet away. If that’s not worth the trip to you, you may be a robot.

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