A staged-opening orchard where the haunted maze is the headline act at a published $17, while daytime and apple-picking prices stay hidden inside the online ticket store until you start a booking.
Daytime admission and apple-picking prices are sold only through the orchard's online ticket store and were not published on the pages read. The Haunted Corn Maze is $17 per person. price_from reflects that haunted maze ticket, not daytime entry.
Rough cost for a family of four: about $68.00 in admission alone at the posted starting rate, before pumpkins, food, parking or any add-on listed above. Most families end up well north of that once they are through the gate.
Jonamac does not open its season on a single day, and that is the first thing worth understanding. The orchard published a sequence for 2026: the store, bakery, cider house and outdoor play area from Wednesday August 26; apple picking on August 29 and 30 before the real opening on September 5; and everything running by Labor Day weekend. Pumpkins and the flower fields are the exception. The orchard says they open later in the season and does not say when.
That gap matters more than it sounds. A family driving out in mid-September for pumpkins has no published assurance the patch is open. Apples, cider and the play area are dependable by then; the pumpkin field is a phone call away from being a wasted trip.
The only figure Jonamac publishes anywhere is $17 per person for the Haunted Corn Maze. Daytime admission and apple picking are priced inside the online ticket store, which means you cannot compare this orchard against another one without starting a booking. That is a common enough e-commerce pattern, and it is a genuine nuisance for anyone planning a family day on a budget.
The one number we do have does useful arithmetic. Four haunted maze tickets is $68. For a 30 to 45 minute walkthrough, that is not a bad price against commercial haunted attractions, but it is the whole evening rather than one activity among several, and there is nothing else running at night to justify the drive on its own.
The entire 10-acre maze is haunted, so there is no daylight-and-darkness split where nervous members of the group can opt into a shorter version. Tickets are timed and lose validity if you miss your entry slot, which is unusually firm and worth building the drive around. Flashlights are banned outright in favour of glow sticks or pen lights. It is recommended for ages 13 and up, and anyone under 16 needs an adult with them.
The operating window is Friday and Saturday nights in October from sunset to 10:30pm. Note what a sunset start means in practice: the opening time slides roughly three quarters of an hour earlier between the first weekend of October and the last, so a late-October booking starts and finishes earlier in the evening than an early-October one. Rain closes it, with full refunds, so a doubtful forecast costs you the plan but not the money.
The daytime operation and the night maze are close to separate businesses sharing a field. Daytime is apples, a 10-acre maze walked in daylight, an outdoor play area, orchard tours, a cider house, a store and bakery, and food trucks. That is a straightforward family half-day, and the store-and-bakery side is walk-in.
The evening is a paid, age-gated, rule-bound attraction for teenagers and adults. Trying to combine them in one trip means either a long gap in the middle of the day or two drives. Locals get the better deal here.
Illinois grows more pumpkins than any other state, and DeKalb County is squarely in that farm belt, so this is real growing country rather than a lot with a pallet of trucked-in pumpkins. It is also flat, open and wet in October. Parking is not described anywhere in the record, but grass and gravel are the norm on farms of this kind, and standing water after autumn rain is the usual complaint. Boots for the daytime, and a jacket heavier than you think you need for a maze that runs to 10:30pm in late October.
The 2026 season builds in stages rather than opening all at once. The store, bakery, cider house and outdoor play area came online Wednesday August 26; apple picking ran August 29-30 and then opened properly on September 5; the orchard says everything is running by Labor Day weekend. Pumpkins and the flower fields are described only as opening later in the season, with no date attached. If pumpkins are the reason for the drive, the safe window is October, and the safest move is a phone call first. For the haunted maze, Friday and Saturday nights in October from sunset to 10:30pm.
Two to three hours for a daytime visit with apples, the maze and the play area. The haunted maze walkthrough itself is 30 to 45 minutes, and with a timed entry slot to hit, budget an evening rather than slotting it after something else.
Friday and Saturday nights in October are the pressure point, because that is the only time the haunted maze runs and it is the orchard signature attraction. Timed entry spreads arrivals but also means the parking lot fills in waves. Weekday daytime visits in late September and October should be the calmest thing here.
Not published. Most northern Illinois orchards park visitors on grass or gravel, and October is a wet month here, so assume soft ground after rain and shoes you do not mind ruining.
Nothing on accessibility appears in the record. A 10-acre corn maze on field ground is unlikely to suit wheelchairs or strollers well, and the haunted version is walked in near darkness. Call ahead if mobility is a factor.
You want a fixed price before you commit. Daytime admission and apple-picking rates are sold only through the orchard online ticket store and are not printed on the site. Skip the haunted maze specifically if you have children under 13, if anyone in the group needs a real flashlight to feel safe, or if you cannot guarantee arriving inside your timed slot.
The property is designed to hold you: cider house, store and bakery, food trucks and orchard tours all sit on the same site, so the natural pairing is daytime apples plus a return that evening for the maze rather than driving somewhere else. Malta sits in DeKalb County farm country, and the drive out from the Chicago suburbs is long enough that most people will want the day to be about one place.
The only price the orchard publishes is $17 per person for the Haunted Corn Maze. Daytime admission and apple picking are sold through the orchard online ticket store and no figures appear on the public pages, so you have to start a booking to see them.
The orchard says only that pumpkins and the flower fields open later in the season and gives no date. Everything else is stated: store, bakery, cider house and play area from August 26, apple picking from late August with the main opening September 5, and all activities running by Labor Day weekend.
It is recommended for ages 13 and up, and anyone under 16 must have an adult chaperone. The entire 10-acre maze is haunted, so there is no tamer route through it.
No. Flashlights are banned. The orchard asks you to use glow sticks or a pen light instead, and the walkthrough takes 30 to 45 minutes.
Opens August 26, 2026 (closing date not published).
Admission starts at $17 per person. Daytime admission and apple-picking prices are sold only through the orchard's online ticket store and were not published on the pages read. The Haunted Corn Maze is $17 per person. price_from reflects that haunted maze ticket, not daytime entry.
19412 Shabbona Rd, Malta, IL 60150, in DeKalb County. It is one of 5 patches we track in Northern Illinois.
We track 5 patches in Northern Illinois, 2 of which are free to walk into. At $17 a head this one sits right on the regional median of $17, undercutting 1 of the 3 paid patches we track here.
What sets it apart locally: it has an after-dark attraction, which most Northern Illinois patches on our list do not.
There are 3 other patches we track in DeKalb County. All Northern Illinois patches →
jonamacorchard.com
Checked August 2026.