Goebbert's Fall Festival to End Oct. 31

The extremely popular festival at the farm offers pony rides, a haunted house, Animal Land and more.

It's your last chance to experience fall fun at Goebbert's this year.  The farm and garden center at 40 W. Higgins Road in South Barrington shuts down its annual Fall Festival on Oct. 31.  People drive from near and far for the Goebbert's experience each year. Some of the more popular attractions include:  Goebbert's spokesperson Holly Peterson spoke to Patch about this year's new attractions.  Read more about the popular giraffe barn and other attractions. 

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Interactive Map: How to Enjoy Fall in the Chicago Suburbs

Patch editors put together a map to help you find the best pumpkin patches, hayrides, haunted houses and cups of cocoa throughout the suburbs.

Fall is in the air in the suburbs.  The pumpkin patches are open, the hot cider is steaming and haunted houses are popping up throughout the area. Patch editors put together a collaborative map to show you all the best places to celebrate fall throughout the Chicago suburbs. Did we miss your favorite spot? Let us know in the comments or add it to the map yourself! It's open for input from readers.  And please feel free to share photos of you and your loved ones enjoying the gorgeous autumn weather!  Here's just a small sampling of places you'll find on the map: 

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Moms Talk

Plan to Make this Fall Season More Memorable for Your Family

Fun Fall activities for the whole family.

Autumn is my family’s favorite time of year. The weather is cooler, the trees look gorgeous, we admire the neighborhood Halloween decorations, it’s football season, and we go nuts for Pumpkin Spice Donuts.  However, it's also a busy time of year. With school, afterschool activities, homework, and even upcoming Holiday plans sometimes it's hard to schedule time to enjoy the season. So, to make sure we don’t miss out on a minute of our favorite seasonal activities, we create a Fall Family Fun Plan or a bucket list of activities we want to do this Fall. We pick a night and at dinner everyone throws out ideas and then we get those activities on the calendar. As inspiration to create your family's plan, here's a list of some of my family’s …

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Goebbert's Pumpkin Farm Ready for Fall

Goebbert's Pumpkin Farm and Garden Center in South Barrington is preparing for its busiest time of year.

The haunted house is ready for scares, the corn stalk maze is mapped out and the animals are waiting to greet visitors. After a lot of preparation, the stage is set for Goebbert's Pumpkin Farm and Garden Center's big Fall Festival in South Barrington. Goebbert general manager Sue Murdock said she is hoping Mother Nature cooperates this year. "We had 22 days of rain in October last year," Murdock said. "We ordered good weather this year—last year was tough." Goebbert's Fall Festival is the busiest time of year for the center. "On average we get about 15,000 people visiting on any given weekend," Murdock said. "Columbus Day weekend is our busiest."  Goebbert's also hosts 20,000 school children during the month of October to give them a …

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