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✓ 2026 dates confirmed on the farm's own site

Sonny Acres Farm

📍 29W310 North Ave, West Chicago, IL 60185🗓 September 19 – October 30, 2026🏷 Free admission

Free to enter and free to park, which makes it one of the cheapest pumpkin stops in DuPage County — but no ride wristband or haunted-attraction price is published anywhere we could read, so the actual cost of a full day is an unknown you have to resolve yourself.

Sonny Acres Farm in West Chicago, IL

What you get for the price

Included with admission

Pumpkin patchDaytime hayridesHaunted hayrideHaunted barnSelf-feed zooSonny's Express trainGiant jumping pillowKiddie KorralTilt-A-WhirlWacky Worm roller coasterFrog HopperGiant slideGiant swingsApple Worm rideFarm store and kitchen

Parking and general entry are free. Rides and attractions are paid individually; weekday unlimited-ride wristbands are sold Tue-Thu 10am-6pm and haunted hayride / haunted barn tickets are sold in advance through TIXR. Neither wristband nor haunted-attraction prices were published on the pages read.

Free to walk in. Your spend here is whatever you choose — pumpkins, food, and any paid activities. That makes it a low-risk stop if you are not sure how long the kids will last.

Our take

Two farms occupy this address depending on when you arrive. Through September and on October weekdays, Sonny Acres closes at 6pm and behaves like a daytime family farm: pumpkin patch, self-feed zoo, Sonny’s Express train, giant jumping pillow, Kiddie Korral and a small fairground of rides including a Tilt-A-Whirl, a Wacky Worm coaster, a Frog Hopper and giant swings. On October Friday and Saturday nights it stays open to 10pm, Sunday to 9pm, and the haunted hayride and haunted barn take over.

That split is the planning decision. Not the price, not the date — the hour.

The cost you cannot look up

Entry is free. Parking is free and advertised as free. Everything after that is not, and the farm does not publish what it charges. No wristband price, no haunted-attraction price. That is a real gap, and it means the useful pre-trip task is opening the farm’s TIXR booking flow and reading the numbers there before you commit to the drive, exactly as you would check a ticket price at any other venue.

What free entry does buy you is a genuine floor. If your household wants a pumpkin, a look at the animals and a walk, this trip costs the price of the pumpkin and nothing else. Very few farms of this size in the Chicago suburbs can say that, and it makes Sonny Acres unusually low-risk with an unpredictable toddler — if the visit lasts twenty minutes, you have lost nothing but the drive.

The wristband is a weekday product

The unlimited-ride wristband is sold Tuesday to Thursday, 10am to 6pm. That is a deliberate move to fill quiet days, and it works in your favour if you have any flexibility. On a Saturday with a ride-hungry seven-year-old, you will be paying per ride at a farm with a dozen of them, and per-ride spending is the fastest-moving number on any fall farm bill.

Haunts sell out; plan them like a show

The haunted hayride and haunted barn run select nights between October 2 and 30 and are sold in advance. Treat them as a booked event rather than a walk-up. They are also the reason the late hours exist, so an evening visit with young children who are not doing the haunts is an awkward fit — you get darkness, cold and a queue for attractions your family is not using.

Dates and the weather

The season runs September 19 to October 30, 2026, closed Mondays except October 12. That October 12 exception is a small trap in the other direction: people assume the Monday closure is absolute and skip a day the farm is actually open.

Northern Illinois October rain is the practical hazard. The parking surface is not published, and very few working farms pave their overflow. Assume you may be walking on soft ground and bring footwear that copes. For any evening visit in the second half of October, layers matter more than one warm coat: 10pm on open farmland at the end of the month is cold in a way an afternoon in the same week is not.

Planning your visit

Best time to go

September 19 through October 30, 2026, Tuesday to Sunday, closed Mondays except October 12. In September and on October weekdays it runs 10am to 6pm as a daytime family farm. In October, Friday and Saturday stretch to 10pm and Sunday to 9pm for the haunted attractions. Pick your half of that split deliberately: a 10am arrival on an October Tuesday is a completely different place from an 8pm arrival on an October Saturday.

How long to budget

Two to three hours for the daytime version. Longer if you are doing the haunted hayride and haunted barn, which are an evening in themselves.

Crowds

A six-week, six-day season spreads the load, but October Friday and Saturday nights are the concentrated end: late hours, haunted attractions and a fairground ride list in one place. Daytime weekdays through September are the quiet version.

Parking

Free, and advertised as such by the farm. The surface is not published; assume the usual farm mix and soft ground after rain.

Strollers and accessibility

Not published. With mechanical rides, a train, a jumping pillow and a hayride spread over a working farm, expect varied ground. Call 630-231-3859 if you need specifics.

What to bring

  • A card, and the expectation that rides are charged individually unless you are there Tuesday to Thursday
  • Layers for any October evening visit — a 10pm close in late October is several hours of full dark and genuinely cold
  • Closed shoes for the patch and the hayride
  • Advance haunted-attraction tickets, bought through the farm's TIXR link before you leave home

How to spend less here

  • Free entry and free parking means the minimum viable visit costs only the pumpkin. If a photo in the patch and a pumpkin is genuinely all you want, this is the cheapest way to get it in DuPage County
  • Go Tuesday to Thursday between 10am and 6pm if the children want rides — that is the only window the unlimited wristband is sold in
  • Decide on haunts before you arrive rather than at the gate; they are the priciest line and the ones most likely to sell out
  • September dates avoid the October night-time operation entirely, which removes the temptation to add on

Who it suits

Good for

  • Families who only want a pumpkin and a wander, since walking in costs nothing at all
  • Older children and teenagers in October, given the haunted hayride and haunted barn
  • Ride-heavy days midweek — the unlimited-ride wristband is sold Tuesday to Thursday, 10am to 6pm only
  • Anyone put off by $25-plus gate charges at the bigger Will County farms

Skip it if

You need a firm budget in advance. Entry is free but rides and haunts are not, and neither the wristband price nor the haunted-attraction price appears on the pages we read. Skip the weekend too if wristbands are your plan — they are a weekday product, so a Saturday means paying per ride.

Worth pairing with

West Chicago sits close enough to the rest of DuPage County that this works as a half-day rather than a full one. If you want the gated all-inclusive experience instead, the Will County farms south of here are the contrast: much higher gate, everything bundled.

Common questions

How much does Sonny Acres cost?

General entry and parking are free. Rides are paid individually, an unlimited-ride wristband is sold Tuesday to Thursday 10am to 6pm, and the haunted hayride and haunted barn are ticketed separately in advance through TIXR. None of those prices were published on the farm's pages when we read them in August 2026.

When do the haunted attractions run?

The haunted hayride and haunted barn run select nights from October 2 to 30, which is why October Fridays and Saturdays stay open until 10pm and Sundays until 9pm. Tickets are sold in advance through TIXR.

Is the farm open on Mondays?

No, with one exception: it is closed Mondays all season except Columbus Day, October 12.

Can I take small children in October?

Yes, during the day. October weekdays still run 10am to 6pm as an ordinary family farm, and the daytime line-up — Kiddie Korral, jumping pillow, train, self-feed zoo, daytime hayrides — is unchanged. The haunted attractions are an evening operation.

When is Sonny Acres Farm open in 2026?

September 19 – October 30, 2026. Tuesday through Sunday (closed Mondays, except Oct 12). Hours: September: Tue-Sat 10am-6pm, Sun 10am-5pm. October: Tue-Thu 10am-6pm, Fri-Sat 10am-10pm, Sun 10am-9pm.

How much does Sonny Acres Farm cost?

Admission is free. Parking and general entry are free. Rides and attractions are paid individually; weekday unlimited-ride wristbands are sold Tue-Thu 10am-6pm and haunted hayride / haunted barn tickets are sold in advance through TIXR. Neither wristband nor haunted-attraction prices were published on the pages read.

Where is Sonny Acres Farm?

29W310 North Ave, West Chicago, IL 60185, in DuPage County. It is one of 9 patches we track in Chicago Suburbs.

How Sonny Acres Farm compares in Chicago Suburbs

We track 9 patches in Chicago Suburbs, 2 of which are free to walk into. Entry here costs nothing, which puts it in the minority even in a region with several free options.

Its season runs about 42 days against a regional average of 48, so it is broadly in line with the rest of the region.

What sets it apart locally: it has an after-dark attraction, which most Chicago Suburbs patches on our list do not.

Other patches near West Chicago

Quick facts

SeasonSeptember 19 – October 30, 2026
Days openTuesday through Sunday (closed Mondays, except Oct 12)
HoursSeptember: Tue-Sat 10am-6pm, Sun 10am-5pm. October: Tue-Thu 10am-6pm, Fri-Sat 10am-10pm, Sun 10am-9pm
AdmissionFree
CountyDuPage County
RegionChicago Suburbs

Directions

Open in Google Maps ↗

Map pin is set to the town centre. Navigate to the street address above, not the pin.

Sources

sonnyacres.com

Checked August 2026.