Bomke’s Patch is already halfway through their season and the Pumpkin Harvest Festival is this weekend, October 5-6.
Bomke’s Patch, 605 Country Lake Road, operates as both a family-friendly pumpkin patch and Christmas tree farm. Best known for their pumpkins, they farm 13 acres with over 50 varieties of pumpkins and gourds. They have more to offer than just pumpkins and fir trees— a bubble pit, live music, petting zoo, tractor rides, corn maze, seasonal snacks, pumpkin launcher, large playground and other activities are all offered on the Patch.
This weekend the Pumpkin Harvest Festival is coming to Bomke’s. The Patch will be full of local artisans and vendors, food trucks, and local artist Micah Walk will be performing on Sunday.
Also this weekend is the last Friday Night Farm on Friday from 6:30 to 9 p.m. Guests can walk the corn maze in the dark, watch Hocus Pocus 2 on the lawn and play in the bubble pit.
Bomke’s is open Saturdays and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., as well as three Friday evenings during their season for Friday Night Farm. They’re also open on Columbus Day. Doors close on Oct. 26.
But Bomke’s didn’t start with pumpkins. In fact, Cathy Bomke started Bomke’s Patch in 2002 with her husband and their children as a Christmas tree farm. In 2009 they opened and sold about 100 trees. Now, they farm 12 acres of fir trees.
“As a family, we would go to Christmas tree farms— we always liked fir trees, all we have are fir trees here— and we could never find any. So, we’d end up at Lowe’s or someplace. And we decided, you know what, we’ll just start planting some. Well, then it grew into 11,000 trees,” Bomke said.
In 2011 the family planted 2 acres of pumpkins and sold out immediately. They continued to grow the pumpkin patch until they filled out 13 acres, which Cathy said is the best size for their demand. Today, guests pick up a cart, gloves and clippers and get to roam the patch to find the perfect pumpkin to hand-pick.
They even have their own food truck, which Bomke says has been a vital part of their operations. “When we first started with the pumpkins people would come out and they feel like they’re way out in the country. They wouldn’t want to leave to go get something to eat, and we ended up providing the food.”
Bomke’s is family owned and run, as all family members are managers, but they also employ friends and seasonal workers to help with the fall season.
“We have lots of friends— we call them friends now— that have worked for us and have grown up working for us, they still help us,” Bomke said.
A new addition to the Patch this year is a live music venue, in a small pavilion in the middle of the playground. On Saturdays they host “Praise at the Patch”— live Christian music performed by local churches and other artists. On Sundays they have live secular performances by other local bands.
The bubble pit is a unique addition Bomke’s started around seven years ago. While on a family vacation in Gulf Shores, their kids wouldn’t stop playing in a large foam pit at a venue.
“We came home, and we were like, ‘well we need to figure out how we can recreate that,’” Bomke’s daughter, Jordan Byers, said.
“The fun thing is, usually when you turn it on you hear all these kids go “ah!” and they start running to it. They really enjoy it. And the parents have learned over the years that they need to bring an extra change of clothes because they get soaking wet,” Bomke said.
Jade Aubrey is a graduate student in the UIS Public Affairs Reporting program.
