Nikki Katris of Western Springs said she is a big fan of Blackberry Farm in Aurora and said it was the perfect place to spend a day with her children on Monday since schools were closed.
“I’ve been here before and it’s nice and quiet. It’s good for the children’s age group and it feels nice and relaxed,” she said at the farm at 100 S. Barnes Road on Aurora’s far West Side.
The Fox Valley Park District is the middle of its annual Pumpkin Weekends celebration at the farm from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays through Oct. 25. It was also open on Monday since it was the Columbus Day holiday.
Admission is $11 per guest age 1 and older, district officials said. Admission includes access to the park’s rides and attractions, including the replica steam-engine train, hay wagons, carousel and ponies.
“Pumpkin Weekends is truly about enjoying fall at your own pace,” says Abby Oldenburg, facility manager at Blackberry Farm, in a press release from the Fox Valley Park District. “Families can ride the train, take a hay wagon ride, visit the ponies, pick out a pumpkin and explore the park without feeling like they have to rush from one activity to the next.”
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Katris said Pumpkin Weekends is definitely “family-friendly.”
“It’s great to have something like this that’s great for everybody,” she said Monday. “We’re doing it all. Definitely the pony rides, feeding the animals, train ride. We’re all in.”
Tim Wagner, spokesman for the Fox Valley Park District, said the Pumpkin Weekends celebration has been held for more than a decade and that the addition of a Columbus Day activity “is extremely popular.”
“It’s a quintessential fall day and you’d be hard-pressed to find a more picturesque spot than Blackberry Farm each fall,” he said on Monday. “It’s a really nice place to be and relaxing, a go- at-your-own-pace event and very stroller-friendly.”
Wagner said what makes Pumpkin Weekends special is that it’s “all things fall.”
In terms of its popularity, more than 2,000 came out for the Pumpkin Weekends celebration on Saturday alone, district officials said.
Jamie Ortiz of Bartlett came with her daughter Autumn, 8, on Monday and said it was her first time visiting the park.
“It’s a gorgeous day and I’m glad to be out of the house, actually,” Ortiz said.
She said the event “checks all the boxes.”
“We’re not inside and no one is on a screen,” she said.
Autumn said she was looking forward to coloring a pumpkin as well as “riding trains and a hay ride.”
Tanya Tica of Plainfield likewise brought her children, noting that “we have come here many times.”
“I’m happy to have something for everyone to do. We’re meeting some friends and just going to walk and have a train ride and just explore,” she said. “Fall events are popular because kids love pumpkins and the farms are very fun and there’s a lot to do.”
David Sharos is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.