We are officially in the stretch of the year I look forward to most: the last warm market mornings, the first crisp evenings, and a calendar that shifts from festivals to harvest season. Tinley Park's Oktoberfest runs this weekend at Harmony Square from September 18 through 20, which I covered in my last post, and the Frankfort Country Market keeps its Sunday mornings going at Breidert Green through October 25. Today I want to point you to the early October lineup I have verified over the last few days, plus the farm stops that make this the best season of the year in our corner of the world. As always, give each host a quick check before you go, since hours can shift.
Opening now: Konow's Corn Maze in Homer Glen
Konow's Corn Maze opens Saturday, September 19 at 10 a.m. and runs daily through the season. General hours are Sunday 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., Tuesday 3 to 8 p.m., and Wednesday through Saturday 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Admission runs $15 per person Monday through Friday, $20 on Saturday and Sunday, and $20 on Columbus Day, with ages two and under free. It is a classic South Suburbs fall outing, and the kids will not want to leave.
October 2 through 4: the biggest weekend of the season
Wickedly Whiting turns ten
Wickedly Whiting celebrates its 10th annual Halloween festival in downtown Whiting along 119th Street on Friday, October 2 from 5 to 11 p.m. and Saturday, October 3 from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Expect food vendors, a beer garden with live music and specialty brews, spooky craft vendors, the Wicked Willows Haunted House, costume contests and a kids' Halloween costume parade with goodie bags. The weekend also brings the haunted hayride through the lakefront park the weekend before, and the Run If You Dare 5K. It is the most distinctive Halloween-themed weekend on the Indiana side, and the lakefront setting at the end of 119th Street makes it feel like nothing else around.
Munster's Pumpkins, Witches and Hayrides, Oh My!
Munster Parks and Recreation hosts its family Halloween kickoff at Centennial Park on Saturday, October 3 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Kids can pick a pumpkin from the park's pumpkin patch while supplies last, then ride the hayrides, ride a pony, and work around face painting, bounce houses, laser tag, games, a balloon artist, a petting zoo and a candy hunt, with a costume contest, character meet-and-greets and trick-or-treating among the vendor booths. Wristbands bundle the ticketed activities, and several pieces like the costume contest and trick-or-treating are free. It is exactly the kind of low-key, neighborly event that makes Munster feel like a town.
St. John Oktoberfest
St. John the Evangelist Parish holds its Oktoberfest October 2 through 4 at the Day Chapel parking lot on 93rd Avenue: Friday 5 to 11 p.m., Saturday 1 to 11 p.m. and Sunday noon to 8 p.m., with free admission. Expect authentic German food, a large tent that keeps things running rain or shine, family-friendly activities and live music all three days, from the Ed Wagner Band and Pech Schwefel to the Gronik Children's Folk Ensemble. It is warm, unpretentious and very, very delicious.
Crown Point Oktoberfest
Across the county, Crown Point's Oktoberfest takes over Bulldog Park on Saturday, October 3 from noon to 10 p.m., free and family friendly, with live music, a beer garden, hayrides, face painting and a bean-bag tournament. If you are showing someone the area for the first time, an Oktoberfest weekend in St. John and Crown Point back to back is a wonderful crash course in why Northwest Indiana feels like home.
County Line Orchard: pumpkin patch opens October 1
Over in Hobart, County Line Orchard's pumpkin patch opens October 1, and the farm runs its corn maze Monday through Thursday 2 to 5:30 p.m., Friday 2 to 9 p.m., Saturday 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Sunday 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., with general orchard hours from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily. It is a short drive from the South Suburbs, the apples are wonderful, and the hayride to the patch is a small adventure in itself.
October 10: the Valparaiso Fall Harvest Festival
Valparaiso closes its market season in style with the Fall Harvest Festival on Saturday, October 10 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Central Park Plaza, free to attend. Pumpkin painting, apple cider, caramel apples, bounce houses and face painting run alongside the final day of the Valparaiso Market, so you can shop the season's last vendors and celebrate fall in one stop. It threads the needle between family fun and small-town charm.
Make a plan for the season ahead
You do not have to pick one thing. A Saturday with the kids at Konow's or County Line, an evening at Wickedly Whiting, a Sunday at St. John's tent: each one is its own little tradition, and together they are the reason fall in the South Suburbs and Northwest Indiana feels like a season you live in, not just one you pass through. If you are weighing a move to any of these communities, come visit on a festival weekend and feel the way people meet their neighbors here. I would love to help you find the right spot for your next chapter. You Can With Joanne!™