Visit the 200-acre Great Pumpkin Patch for fall fun

October 23, 4:09 PMChicago Family Staycations ExaminerCarrie Steinweg

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The Great Pumpkin Patch located near Arthur, Illinios is know for its unusal displays.
Photo provided by The Great Pumpkin Patch.

If you’re a fan of the Charlie Brown tale about the Great Pumpkin Patch, you may want to take your family out to the real “Great Pumpkin Patch,” located in Illinois Amish country.

The Great Pumpkin Patch is a 200-acre attraction with a 63-acre pumpkin patch. There you’ll find over 300 varieties of pumpkins, squash and gourds. You can pull a wagon out to the patch or take a tractor-drawn wagon ride on weekends.

Known for its creative and unusual displays, the farm has been featured in Martha Stewart’s Living and the owners travel around the country setting up displays for fall festival.

Now in its 21st year as a fall attraction, the farm has been in the same family for six generations. It also has two historic schoolhouse buildings, built in 1917 and 1920 (the last two that were used as one-room schoolhouses in the county) that were relocated onto the farm in cooperation with the local historical society. One serves as a museum, the other is a gift and sweet shop.

There are four mazes on the grounds; the corn maze, the straw maze, the toddler maze and the sunflower maze.

Kids will also enjoy checking out the farm animals, which include sheep, llamas, alpacas, goats, turkeys, chickens, geese and pot belly pigs. A children’s garden on the grounds includes a pond and adults will enjoy the Idea Alley, where they can get tips on how to decorate outdoors using gourds.

Be sure to stop in The Homestead Bakery, which is open year round for some pumpkin bread, iced pumpkin cookies or cinnamon-pumpkin rolls.

The Great Pumpkin Patch is open daily through October 31 from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Weekends include musical entertainment and gourd artists. Visit www.the200acres.com for more details.

The Great Pumpkin Patch
RR 1, Box 100
Arcola, IL
Call 217-543-2394
THE200ACRES.COM

For more fall fun, staycation ideas and travel bargains, visit my home page here. Subscribe to e-mail to get new articles delivered to your inbox. Follow me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/carrieste.