Lowell Pumpkin Patch Corn Maze To Honor Pioneers
This year’s corn maze design at Kregel’s Pumpkin Patch honors local pioneers, their courage and strength under adverse conditions.
“I wanted to create opportunities for families to learn, laugh and play together by connecting them to agriculture and local history,” owner Derrill Kregel said. “As I watched the COVID-19 pandemic unfold I thought about history and what history could teach us. I read about the Spanish flu and then I began to think about the early pioneers and how they fought to survive the elements and disease with all they had in a covered wagon. Then I began to think about the pioneers that are buried in the pioneer cemetery on our own farm.”
Family Matriarch Deida (Young) McCarty, wife of Judge Benjamin McCarty, died March 28, 1848 and is buried on Kregel’s property. There are three children buried on Kregel’s farm. Two died on the same day July 3, 1853. James M Young was only 18 months old and his sister Emily L Young was four years and five months old.
According to the writings of Ethel A. Vinnedge, Deida McCarty was born in 1796. She and her husband were early settlers in LaPorte County, where he was the county’s first sheriff in 1832. Later, he was Probate Judge. They moved to Porter County in 1836 where they took a claim in the central part of the county. Here Benjamin located Valparaiso. When the family moved to Lake County in 1839, the family bought the Dr. Calvin Lilley Tavern at the north end of Cedar Lake. The family successfully ran this inn for several years.
The McCarty’s sold the tavern and bought a farm one half mile south of Creston. Judge Benjamin McCarty was unsuccessful in having the county seat located at West Point, which he named the town he had laid out at the north eastern side of Cedar Lake.
“I looked at diseases of that time, cholera and typhoid, or perhaps it could have been an accident, the cause of death is unknown and there were no newspapers in the area at that time” Kregel said. “I looked at the tragedy and the struggles they must have faced to form this great nation without all the luxuries of today and I wanted to pay tribute to their sacrifice.”
The unique custom maze honoring these brave determined local ancestors is designed in the image of a covered wagon. Kregel works with a maze design and planting company in Idaho.
“I come up with the idea and I explain my vision to their graphic artist who then comes up with the design,” Kregel said. “It usually takes two to three revisions until we agree on the final design. I provide them with the GPS co-ordinates and the dimensions and they load the data into a computerized GPS guided tractor and planter. Maze Play travels around the country and plants about 150 mazes.”
Kregel’s Pumpkin Patch, a family owned and operated business, is located at 7705 W. 159th Avenue in Lowell. It will be open Saturday September 26 through October 31. In addition to the unique historic corn maze, Kregel’s offers tractor-pulled hayrides out to the field to pick pumpkins. There are pre-picked pumpkins available at the farm stand. Fee based barnyard activities include: unlimited rides on the hayride to the pumpkin patch; the pumpkin peak slide; the rat roller; the barrel train ride; pedal car ride; the petting zoo; and the corn maze. The Snack Shack sells freshly made kettle corn, hot apple cider and donuts which can be enjoyed in the adjacent picnic area. The farm stand carries local honey, hand-painted pumpkins, gourds, mums, straw bales, and corn stalks.
Market hours are Monday through Saturday 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday noon to 6 p.m. The maze and barnyard attractions are available Monday through Friday; 10:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday noon to 6 p.m.Call (219) 690-1503 for additional information or to arrange group hayrides. Visit Kregel’s Pumpkin Patch on Facebook or at www.kregelspumpkinpatch.com.
