Jonamac Orchard

Though this orchard is in Dekalb, I was pleasantly satisfied with its offerings for adults and kids.
It’s about 90 minutes from Chicago on a good day (read: no traffic) so it’s a bit far. Definitely worth the drive since there isn’t really space to have such a giant orchard in Chicago or its near suburbs.
The orchard is large and had a decent amount of apples for picking, even in the third weekend of October. Pecks of apples are pretty expensive (like at most orchards) so plan to pay $ 24 for a whole peck (which would be like $ 6 at a grocery store).
There’s also a nice store with delicious apple donuts and cider for your enjoyment. Of course, they sell a ton of other stuff so stay a bit and look around. The apple donuts were delish so definitely worth buying a few dozen.
There was a small pumpkin patch (and pumpkins available near the store), a lunch truck (hot dogs, sausages, etc.), a place to sample and buy bottles of wine, and a TON of fun kids activities. Of course, everything costs money so prepare to spend some to basically do anything.
The best part of this orchard is the corn maze. It takes about 2 – 3 hours to get through, depending on how many legs you do and how swift you are in following clues. I would LOVE to do the haunted corn maze because I bet it’s scary as hell. The haunted maze is only available on Fridays and Saturdays after dark so make sure you get out there for that gem.

Still really like this place for Fall festivities. Good maze, many activities, reasonable prices. Only two disappointment. Apple donuts are still awful. Also, making parent pay $ 5 to go into child area with their child seems a little ridiculous. But, still a fun place and worth a drive.

My first visit to Jonamac was Fall 2014 and I thought it was super cute. It’s an apple orchard and pumpkin farm in one!
They have a wide variety of apples that they grow and depending on the time, certain apples would be available. For example, this late, it appears they don’t have any more golden delicious. But they had a couple of my faves that were ripe, the Braeburn and Fuji!
They have activities for the kiddos and live music for ya’ll to enjoy.
Really, the main reason to drive waaaaaaaaaaaaay out here, is for the APPLE DONUTS.
Seriously, the apple donuts from Jonamac are the best I’ve ever had. They’re not super sweet like from other places, they definitely don’t bathe them in tons of sugar. They sell them fresh and warm and you’d be crazy not to buy at least a dozen!
They also make their own variety of apple wines and just this year, they started to sell their own hard cider. I have yet to try the cider, so I’m hoping it tastes good!
Tips for us city folk: best to get there by 10am or 11am at the latest to beat not only car traffic (Eisenhower was a breeze, amazingly!), but people traffic. It gets pretty darn crowded by noon. Bathroom and donut lines are out the door!
They accept cash and credit/​debit cards!
Go check out Jonamac this fall. It’s worth the drive!

The grounds are beautiful but the people who work out there are unfriendly and terrible. I’ve never seen a smile. You work at an orchard people! Would it kill you to put a smile on your face? It seems like it kills them to be working there. I honestly go there for my son, and every time I go I have hope that it’ll be different, but it never is. I leave in a terrible mood because the people who work there rub they’re mood off on me. Hey, here’s an idea! If you hate your job so bad… quit. I’m sure there’s someone else out there that would kill to have it. Keep in mind… a smile as simple as it is goes a long way, Jonamac.

Came on a referral from a friend who has been there a few times. Went on a Sunday around noon and was surprised that although it was busy, it didnt seem super crowded and we were able to enjoy everything.
We did the apple picking and the cashier was very friendly. I was worried that apples were going to be picked over as it was already first of October but we did pretty good. I thought $ 13 was reasonable for the apples, esp since there wasnt an admission fee.
They had the free apple wine tasting which was fun, but the girl seemed annoyed to be there and really didnt want to tell us about the wines.
The corn maze was a blast, it was challenging at times but we made it out!
I really enjoyed the free hayride out to the pumpkin patch and the free wheelbarrows to help bring back the pumpkins. There was a great selection out in the patch… and again you dont have to pay to go out there.
i LOVE that they accept credit/​debit everywhere. Even at the make shift cashier station outside of the pumpkin patch, made it very easy.
It was easy to get to off 88, parking was easy and it was a great atmosphere. Definitely will be coming back next year.

A fun place for kids with very nice and attentive staff. We went there with our one-​year-​old for apple and pumpkin picking — got a nice bag of apples and three big pumpkins. If your kids are older, they will enjoy the barn yard area for slides, haystacks, petting zoo, etc. They also had good food and delicious apple cider + free apple /​pumpkin wine tasting.
But our best experience was with the staff. Our daughter got bitten by a service dog. The staff was helpful and immediately directed us to the back of the store where a lovely woman who’s an RN and also the grandma of the family running the farm came and helped our young daughter.
Despite the incident, it was a fun afternoon!

This is a really cute place! We went this weekend to get their amazing apple cinnamon donuts and to go to their haunted corn maze at night.
Positives: the donuts are really good and the atmosphere is really nice. It is very kid and family friendly, with lots of things for the children to climb on and play with. The haunted corn maze was very big, but not so haunted, which leads me to my negatives.
Negatives: it is kind of pricy; $ 13 a person for the haunted corn maze which wasn’t really haunted. They had men in scary masks just standing around, no one was really popping out at you from the corn which was what I was hoping for, especially for paying all that money. They had some cheesy carnival spin thing that you walk through at the end that a lot of people were upset with because those make you super dizzy. Also the workers were rude at the Apple Store, at least the workers who were the cashiers. It is a big pet peeve of mine if you go somewhere and workers do not acknowledge your presence while you are clearly standing at their table, and then also continue their conversation and just take your money and give you change. I work in retail and we are known for having excellent customer service at our stores, so this really grinds my gears when I see rude workers.
All in all it is a cute place for family fun, just bring a few bucks if you plan on going ;)

the apples are delicious and, if course, supremely fresh. but the hour-​plus dive from the city and the SUPER EXPENSIVE apples ($ 13 per HALF peck) make it not worth the trip, unless you have small kids who like high priced pony rides and lukewarm cider. if you just want apples, Whole Foods is a better option, in my opinion.

We visited today to pick some apples, to celebrate all that is fall. Indoor plumbing bathrooms are in the store/​café — helpful sine our 3 year old refuses to use the outdoor ones. Reasonable prices on apple picking, yummy doughnuts, caramel apples, apple wine, etc. I LOVE that you can just pick apples and don’t have to do a the crazy kids stuff. It is a huge plus to have the option but not feel like you have to because you paid for it. The other think I loved was that you can u-​pick 7 days per week, not just on the weekend. Super, we’ll be back.

Jonomac is the best place. It is a family owned, family centered business. Jonomac is all about fall fabulousness. The shop is chock full of yummy surprises. We frequently drop in to stock up on caramel apples, doughnuts, fudge, cider, and apple wine. We always take our daughter out to enjoy the activities. There’s all the play ground equipment, the petting zoo, the cannons, the jumping pillow. My husband and I will stop in a few times to pick apples and have a blast enjoying everything fall.
I am always jeeping an eye on their calendar. They have something special every single weekend. There are events geared towards kids, or the young at heart. And they also offer events that are awesome at bringing something new for adults to try, like the Chicago food truck weekend.
You HAVE to check them out. Even if it’s just to stop in the shop to buy some goodies. The caramel apples, seriously, they are THE best ever. You will not regret it.

Corn maze was super fun. I like that it was a big puzzle. We def got lost on the wording portion if the maze because there were so many dead ends. We eventually found our way. On the halfway point before the haunted half, we could at least do a bathroom break. I’m pretty sure we were in the non haunted portion for about an hour.
As for the haunted part? It wasn’t too scary and I’m a scary cat. If anything– I would say that the workers need to spread out. They def cluster together a lot and gang up on people. Perhaps they just need to hire more people. Unsure. It’s def not scary but still fun to go out with a group of friends.

Holy crowds, Batman! If we weren’t in the fall spirit before visiting Jonamac Orchard, we sure were when all was said and done! We got out of our cars & could already hear a band singing their hearts out with some country ditty, and they didn’t sound half bad either! As we walked closer and closer to the main building, I started second guessing our decision to come here. There were families upon families upon strollers upon heaps of kids, but thankfully enough, everyone there seemed as happy and excited as we did.
Walking into the store, we were immediately hit with the permeating smell of freshly fried donuts — yum. We figured we’d grab some treats on the way out instead of loading up our arms right away. This weekend was the last weekend of their U Pick (according to the website) & it just so happened that they were featuring food trucks from the city, which was the real reason we wanted to go. They had a South American food truck with arepas to die for (so we were told), Chubby Weiners (insert 13 year old girl style laugh here), and Bridgeport Pasty. Half our party opted for pasties and the other half got chubbies. $ 6 for a slightly larger than normal hotdog is a little outrageous to me, but I’m sure it hit the spot. The pasties were amazing and well worth the wait (they were baking when we got in line).
Once our bellies were full and happy, we opted for a free wagon ride at the insistence of our toddler. We got a tour of the grounds, which include an apple launcher, the apple orchard, haunted corn maze, and pick your own pumpkin patch. It felt a little early to be nabbing pumpkins, but we did make a mental note that their pumpkins are 2 for $ 12, which is a decent price.
We didn’t pick apples here since we went somewhere else first, but we did note that U Pick was a bit pricey. A small bag, quarter peck I think, was $ 16, and a half peck was $ 26…a little rich for my blood, and more than any other orchard we have tried. I guess it’s a good deal if you factor in the free wagon ride, but I would rather save the money and use my legs, especially on such a great day.
I didn’t think I would like Jonamac Orchard as much as I did, but our family agreed that this was a great destination orchard overall. We might just be back later in the month to wait for The Great Pumpkin.

With the colder weather approaching, I have been in the mood for some fall activities, my favorite being apple picking. After researching about apple picking in the Chicago area I settled on Jonamac and I was not disappointed!
The drive was about an hour and a half from Chicago, free parking and free admission to the orchard — just had to get a bag to put apples in. I got a half peck bag which held about 15 – 20 apples and cost $ 13.
The weekend I went I also got to sample their apple wine for free from 1 – 4 (it was delicious!). They had some sweeter wines as well as a spiced wine, which would be perfect for mulled wine when it cools down even more.
The best part though? APPLE CIDER DONUTS! OMG, absolutely amazing! I got one… and ended up going back for another, they were that good! I washed it down with some hot apple cider which was also delicious.
The orchard has a corn maze, apple launcher, and lots of other children friendly activities. If you are looking for a fun place to enjoy some apple picking and fall weather, check this place out
For pics and more details on my apple picking adventure, check out:

The only problem with this place is they aren’t open long enough! Just long enough for me to get HOOKED on the apple cider donuts, taffy apples, and homemade fudge. then they close until the next fall =(
I usually just go to get my favorite treats (as mentioned above) and not for the numerous activities they offer, so I try to go on a weekday or another time when the crowds won’t be too much. However, the past few years they have made numerous expansions, so I would assume that even at peak times the wait for donuts is no longer an hour or more, as some other reviewers noted.
I always look forward to opening day at the orchard, and dread the end of the season! I definitely recommend that anyone who hasn’t already been, or finds themselves in the area during the fall, stop in and enjoy a fun and delicious time!