The big pumpkin patches are ticketed attractions now. Expect $17 to $30 a head at the gate, and the pumpkin still costs extra.
A surprising number of them also don't grow the pumpkins. They're trucked in and set out in rows for you to walk between, which is fine, but it's not what most people picture on the drive out.
We checked every farm below against its own website on August 15, 2026, and went back to two of them on August 17. Five of the twelve still have a gap: no 2026 price, no 2026 dates, or 2025 numbers sitting there unlabeled. Where that's the case, we say so instead of guessing.
On this page: The Patches · Who Grows Their Own · The Corn Mazes · The Pricing Traps · Gone, and Still Being Searched For · Before You Drive Out
The Patches
Goebbert's, Pingree Grove
Opens Fri Aug 21 · Kane County · $17–22 weekdays, $22–30 weekends
Goebbert's Pingree Grove farm is the earliest opener on this list by weeks, with a wagon ride out to a working farm. A season pass runs $65 to $99.
The gate price is only the entry fee. Pumpkins, apples and the camel rides all cost more once you're inside.
Goebbert's, South Barrington
Sat Sept 5 preview – Sun Nov 1, closed Sept 8–10 · Cook County · $20 weekdays, $27 weekends
The closer-in South Barrington sibling is open 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily and stops selling tickets at 5:30. Weekend and Columbus Day admission drops to $24 if you buy online, a weekday season pass is $60, and parking is free. Add 45 cents a ticket for the village amusement tax, which is the only surcharge of its kind on this page.
September 5 through 7 is a $15 preview, activities running and the animals not yet delivered. The festival then closes entirely September 8 through 10, though the market stays open for pumpkins and produce.
Didier Farms Pumpkin Fest, Lincolnshire
Wed Sept 16 – Sat Oct 31, closed Tuesdays · Lake County · free admission and parking
Attractions run on $1 tickets instead — the maze takes 5, the playland 6. Free entry sounds like the bargain until a family of four does six things each.
One piece of history: Didier Farms' retail operation closed for good in 2022. The Pumpkin Fest on the property survives under separate operators.
Bengtson's, Homer Glen
Fri Sept 4 – Sun Nov 8, closed Sept 8–10 · Will County · 2026 pricing listed as TBA
Bengtson's is the theme-park end of the scale. The page still carries a 2025 image and no u-pick field is advertised.
Siegel's Cottonwood Farm, Lockport
Sat Sept 19 – Sun Nov 1 · Will County · $19.95 weekdays, $29.95 weekends · grown on site
Siegel's Cottonwood Farm is one of the few farms that confirms it grows its own, which is rarer than it should be.
Plan around this: discounted tickets are blacked out on October 17–18 and 24–25, and the farm notes those dates can change. The gate is still open and full-price tickets still sell — it's the flash-sale rate that disappears. Those are the two weekends everyone wants, and the farm's own FAQ agrees they're the busiest.
Weekdays start at $19.95 and weekends at $29.95, with Columbus Day counted as a weekend. The season runs daily, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Prices, dates and hours here are from Siegel's own ticket page, read August 17, 2026.
Sonny Acres, West Chicago
2026 dates not posted · DuPage County · free admission and parking
A family farm since 1883, sold to new owners in 2019. Same caution as Didier: the per-ride costs stack up fast.
The only fall dates on their site are September 20 to October 30 of 2025, on a page that calls itself a 2025 guide. Their live hours calendar stops in July. Admission and parking are genuinely free, so the trip is cheap to get wrong, but call before you drive.
Stade's Farm, McHenry
Sat Sept 5 – Sun Nov 1, weekends · McHenry County · admission not posted
This is the real u-pick on the list. The patch is 33 acres and any pumpkin you can carry costs $8.
Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, plus Labor Day on September 7 and Columbus Day on October 12. They haven't published an admission price for 2026 yet, and parking is included when they do.
No refunds for weather, so watch the forecast, not the calendar. The market stays open 9 to 6 even when the outdoor attractions shut.
Heap's Giant Pumpkin Farm, Minooka
Hay rides from Sat Sept 19 · Grundy County · grown on site
Heap's Giant Pumpkin Farm is a 25-acre patch with 90 varieties, the most serious growing operation here. U-pick flowers open Sat Sept 5 and the giant pumpkin weigh-off is Sat Sept 26. Admission prices still aren't posted, and admission does not include the pumpkin.
Kroll's Fall Harvest Farm, Waukegan
Sat Sept 19 – Sat Oct 31 · Lake County · $14 adults, $12 kids, weekends only
The pumpkins are pre-picked and priced in rows, and Kroll's says so plainly. It's a farm market with a fall season, not a u-pick field. Shopping the market is free.
The admission charge is a weekend thing, Columbus Day included, and it buys a three-hour slot covering the hayride, corn maze and animal area. Turn up on an ordinary weekday and there is no admission at all. You pay per thing instead, $8 for the maze and $5 for the hayride. That is the cheapest way onto any farm on this page.
Johansen Farms, Bolingbrook
Opens Tue Sept 15 · Will County · $18.95 weekdays, $23.95–26.95 weekends
Johansen Farms has posted 2026: $18.95 any weekday, $23.95 September weekends, $26.95 October weekends and Columbus Day. Seniors run $3 less across the board and the weekday season pass is $38.95. The market side is free and the zoo side is paid, a split that catches people at the gate.
Windy Acres Farm Stand, Geneva
Sat Sept 12 – Sun Nov 1 · Kane County · $18 weekdays, $22 weekends
Windy Acres had two different opening dates on its own site in July. That has settled: September 12 to November 1, open every day, 10 to 5:30. Seniors pay $16 and $20, and Columbus Day is charged at weekend rates.
They also don't take cash. Card or Apple Pay only. And there is only one Windy Acres — the Elgin and Plainfield locations you'll see on aggregators don't exist.
Tom's Farm Market, Huntley
2026 dates not posted · McHenry County · grown on site
Tom's Farm Market has u-pick pumpkins from its own fields, but the pricing page is still labeled "(2025 pricing)."
Wristbands are sold online only and capped, and last weekend entry is 4 p.m. And no, Tom's has no u-pick apples — pumpkins only. If apples are the point of the trip, the orchards have their own guide, with which varieties ripen when.
Takeaway: if you want to pick a pumpkin off a vine, your list is Stade's, Siegel's, Tom's and Heap's. Most of the rest are events with pumpkins at them.
Who Grows Their Own
We asked this of every farm, because it's the question the marketing avoids.
- Grow on site, confirmed: Heap's, Siegel's, Stade's, Tom's
- Pre-picked, and says so: Kroll's
- Wouldn't say: Goebbert's, Bengtson's, Sonny Acres, Johansen
Four large operations, none of which states where its pumpkins come from. If they won't say, assume trucked-in.
The Corn Mazes
Richardson Adventure Farm, Spring Grove
28 acres · McHenry County · $22 to $32
Richardson Adventure Farm is far and away the biggest: four mazes, nine to ten miles of trail, and a 2026 theme marking the Declaration's 250th.
The price depends on when you go and how old you are, and the spread is wider than anywhere else here. September is $22 for everyone. From October it climbs, and anyone 13 or over pays $32 on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday. Same maze, same farm, $10 a head apart.
The rest, briefly
- Keller's Farmstand, Oswego — 12 acres, weekends only. Their page says the fall festivities "will reopen again in fall 2026" and lists the price as TBD, so there are no dates yet.
- Jonamac, Malta — daytime maze included with admission, which is $10, or $12 on a peak weekend. The haunted version is $17 and covers all 10 acres. Their after-hours ticket is $5 from 5pm and includes a flashlight maze.
- Abbey Farms, Aurora — about 10 acres, with a Saturday night maze.
- All Seasons Orchard, Woodstock — 6 acres, 3 miles of path. It comes with the $9 Barnyard ticket, not with apple picking. The combo is $19.
- Konow's, Homer Glen — two mazes, the big one 3.4 miles and the small one 0.4. Their site still says "closed for 2025" and everything on it is last season's, when it was $15 on weekdays and $20 on weekends. No Amex, and they've stopped honoring all free-entry passes.
- Tom's Farm Market, Huntley — 6 acres plus a separate Moonlight Maze.
- Stade's Farm, McHenry — 2 acres and 12 clues. The smallest here.
The Pricing Traps
All of it costs real money.
- Haunted-house pricing is its own economy — dynamic tiers that sell out in July, walk-up surcharges, online-only discounts. Covered in our fall festivals guide.
- Peak weekends get blacked out. Siegel's suspends discounts on both late-October weekends. Bengtson's prices by the day.
- Free parking often isn't. Cantigny charges $21 a car for its fall fest and won't tell you what admission costs, because their own page says only that it varies by event. The Botanic Garden parks you for $15 in advance, $25 on the day.
- Payment rules cut both ways. Windy Acres refuses cash. Konow's won't take Amex.
- Caps and timed entry are normal now. Tom's caps wristbands. The Botanic Garden's Jack-o'-Lantern nights sell out most evenings.
The cheap route is a weekday in early October at a farm with free admission. The expensive route is a Saturday walk-up on October 18 anywhere.
Gone, and Still Being Searched For
People still drive to these. Don't be one of them.
- Wauconda Orchards, Wauconda — sold. It's a subdivision now.
- Garden Patch Farms, Homer Glen — both domains redirect to a for-sale parking page.
- Didier Farms retail, Lincolnshire — closed in 2022. The Pumpkin Fest there is a separate operation.
- Apples on Oak, Joliet/Lockport — closed, site blank.
- Statesville Haunted Prison, Lockport — closed after 2021, absorbed into HellsGate.
Two we couldn't settle: Prairie Sky Orchard in Union still shows "Closed for the 2025 Season," and Ziegler's Orchard in Grayslake has turned up on MLS. Call first.
Before You Drive Out
Check the year on whatever page you're reading. Several of these farms had 2025 prices live in late July 2026, and one contradicts itself on its own opening date.
The two weekends to avoid are October 17–18 and 24–25. That's when the discounts vanish, the timed tickets sell out and the parking stops working.
And decide what you're buying. If it's a pumpkin, a pre-picked lot with free admission is cheaper and faster. If it's the afternoon, you're buying an event and the pumpkin is a souvenir. The farms know which one they are. Most visitors find out at the gate.
We'll keep updating this as the farms that haven't posted 2026 information get around to it. Corrections welcome.
This guide is part of The New Parent's Suburban Starter Pack.