Selling pizza and ears of roasted corn to customers at Bengtson’s Pumpkin Fest in Homer Glen isn’t Shannon Rodonis’ first job, nor will it likely be the last for the 17-year-old from Oak Forest.
But right now, she couldn’t ask for a better place to work.
“It’s a nice environment,” Rodonis said Sunday. “It’s a happy environment.”
That’s what the operators and the more than 250 employees at the pumpkin fest, 13341 W. 151st. St., strive for over the five-plus weeks the festival is open in the fall.
The past weekend was the opening weekend for Bengtson’s. Overcast skies probably deterred some people from visiting the farm on Sunday, operator Jeremy Bengtson said. Crowds were light, but a steady stream of customers filtered into the festival.
Despite the gloomy weather, a parade of stroller-pushing parents guided toddlers to some of the more exciting carnival rides, including a burlap sack slide toward the rear of the festival.
Bengtson said returning customers will notice more food vendors and an expanded petting zoo and corn box, the festival’s giant sandbox filled with the equivalent of eight semi trucks worth of corn kernels for kids to play in.
The additions and expansions were targeted for festival attractions where crowds tended to pile up, Bengtson said.
“We’ve done that because I don’t believe in lines,” Bengtson said. “If I go somewhere and I wait in line, I’m generally unhappy. So I don’t think our guests should have to wait in line.”
Bengtson doesn’t own the farm, which has served the area for more than 35 years, but said he and another family member are in the process of buying it.
He said they have plans to expand in the future. Currently, the festival grounds sit on 13 acres, with about four making up the farm and the rest of the land for parking. They want to buy an additional 80 acres, Bengtson said.
Bengtson’s uncles Dave and Dan started the farm decades ago, he said. It began as an egg farm and, eventually, started growing pumpkins to sell at a farmstand on their land. The popularity of the pumpkin farmstand grew rapidly, so much that eager customers didn’t want to wait for the pumpkins to be brought to the stand and were driven out to the patch instead.
Now the farm relies on other farms, largely from Illinois, for its pumpkin supply, Bengtson said. They had grown pumpkins for about 20 years, but “we haven’t planted a pumpkin in 10 years,” he said Sunday, because of the crop rotation needed to avoid disease.
The farm has gone through a rough patch in recent years. In September 2013, a bank foreclosed on the property owned by a former gas station magnate. Bengtson’s has rented the land since 1988.
In February, the potential sale of Bengtson’s came up during the heated mayoral contest in Homer Glen. Then-mayor Jim Daley announced that the farm had potential new owners and claimed this year’s festival would be the “best and biggest ever” in a message posted to his campaign website. At the time, Daley said he was defending himself against rumors that he was involved in the sale. The Bengtsons accused Daley of wanting to shut down the festival in a post on Facebook. Daley lost the April election to George Yukich.
Despite the problems, the festival remains an enduring fall destination. Bengtson said people who visited the farm as part of student groups as children now are taking their kids to the festival. In a good year, more than 150,000 people will walk among the piled-up pumpkins, carnival rides, pig races and other attractions.
A younger generation is carrying on the legacy, both behind the scenes and in what the festival offers.
Alyssa Kochanny is a 13-year-old student at Orland Junior High. She grew a white pumpkin of more than 1,100 pounds in her back yard for the festival’s largest pumpkin contest. She has told her friends about the hours upon hours of work it has taken to produce the massive gourd.
“They think it’s awesome,” Kochanny said Sunday as the pumpkin was displayed.
Bengtson’s Pumpkin Fest is open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily through Nov. 1. Admission is $9.99 from Mondays to Thursdays, except Columbus Day, and $14.99 on Columbus Day and weekends, according to the fest website. Kids 2 and under and military personnel with proper ID get in free. Unlimited kiddie rides and most attractions are included, according to the fest website, pumpkinfarm.com.
Nick Swedberg is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
