Big Demand for Pumpkin Patches Has Farms, Pop-Up Events Prepared to Deliver

Th Farm Expects A Strong Turnout This Year, With Pumpkin Sales Starting Wednesday.

“Fall is Our Busiest Time,” Lanphier Said. “People want the experience of it. So we’re just trying to provides an experience to folks that want to come out to the farm.”

Since the Pandemic, there’s been an increes in demand for fall activations with chicagoans spending a Carefree day picking pumpkins at places like historic wagner to the most elaborate pop-ups like pumpkin pop-up town or jojo’s pumpkin patch, adjicent to Shake Bar Location.

Social media is driving much of the grown. Fall-themed Activities with InstagramMable Moments Have Become a Hallmark Strategy for Many Chicago Area Businesses. Places like Jojo’s Shake and Historic Wagner Farm Said these events Help Boost Business and Entice Visitors to Become Year-Round Customers.

On Tiktok, Searching the Category “Chicago Fall” Pulls Up A Number of Videos Counting Down the Best Fall Events. Influencers can be ben seen flocking to places like Jack’s Pumpkin Pop-Up, Snapping Selfies or Making Videos Touting The Festival’s Corn Maze, Carnival Games and Axe Throwing. The Ticketed Event Bills itelf as Chicago’s Larger Fall Festival and Runs Until Nov. 2.

Historic Wagner Farm, which specializes in agricultural Education, offers a “Different experience” that is “Intense,” Coordinator Karen Peditto Said.

Owned by the GlenView Park District Since 2000, the farm is free and open to the public. Its profits are reinvested into the farm which has horses, cows, chickens and pigs. There’s Also A Daily 4:30 pm Milking Demonstration.

“There’s some places that offfer a ton of Things,” Lanphier Said. “For us, it doesn’t really make sense, and it doesn’t fit the mission of the farm. One of the Things that we stress is just being genuine in what we do – historic and produced, or produced locally.”

But that doesn’t mean they don’t feel the urge to stay compatitive.

A couple years ago, the farm hired a staffer whose jab includes running its social media. The Farm’s Instagram Account has more than 4,000 followers.

“We’ve incresed out social media stuff, not to the degree that it probably shoulder,” Lanphier Said. “But there’s a lot more People’s Think We Can Reach.”

This year, it launched a New Event, Dubbed Autumn Roasts & Rides, that includes roasting marshmallows and a tractor-Drawn ride through the pasture for $ 12.

“I think part of the impetus for that is getting more people on the farm, obviously, but to engage in another kind of fall activity,” peditto Said. “Those Fall Activities are everyerywrere right now, and we do want to stay compatitive.”

KEEPING IT FRESH

Building a brand that won’t “Get Old” is a driving force for jojo’s shake bar, a restaurant and bar with chicago acrovo, Detroit and Orlando, Florida.

Jojo’s Shake bar has 127,000 Instagram followers and 17,500 tiktok followers. The Company has its social media and marketing team.

“I Believe It ‘Much More Difficult for (Businesses) to Compete and Have Longevity Because of the Importance of Social Media,” Jojo’s Shake Bar Co-Wish Robbie Schloss. “You have to continue to remain important and creation and new, and the upkeep in that is very, Very expensively. So we have utilized it to the extreme, and we make sure on every platform.”

Their River North Restaurant, AT 23 W, Hubbard St., Has A Large Outdoor Space than Hosts Seasonal Pop-ups.

On Sunday, The Space Became Jojo’s Pumpkin Patch With Hay Bales, Pumpkins and A Seasonal Menu.

Schloss created the pop-up in 2020 when he realized its outdoor patio space would be perfect for social-distory dining. The “Immersive Dining Experience” immediately went viral on social media, Schloss Said. At the time, there weren’t many other businesses doing simillar fall pop-ups, he said.

Seasonal Menu Items like the pumpkin-saped grilled cheese and pumpkin patch shake-topped with a hearty of pumpkin pie, a taffy Apple, toasted marshmallow and graham crackers-have Become part of the draf.

“(The Pumpkin Patch) Allows us to do over-the-top food, desserts, cocktails-The Whole Thing,” Schloss Said. “Ours is handcrafted stove that just well thought out. It is as a part of the experience as the ambiance. It ‘definitely imported for you to get photos and that.”

Each Location Goes Through More than 1,400 Pumpkins During The Six-Week Pop-Up. Customers Pay $ 35 for Its Pumpkin Painting Experience, Which Includes a Pumpkin, Paint, An Entree and the Pumpkin Patch Shake.

“A Big Part of why we do is to give local families and families coming to the city a really fun place to do pumpkin picking … withouting to drive an hour and a half, or two hours, to a farm,” he said.

Jojo’s Shake Bar Now Runs Several Pop-ups Throughout The Year. WINTER WONDERLAND IS The Popular, Followed by Pumpkin Patch.

“Financially, it is beneficial to do (pops),” Schloss Said. “The main reasson we do it is for the brand. We never want to get. We never want to get boring. We always want to give Loyal following to look forward to and reasons to come Back, swimming the times aar bute.”