Generations of Tanners host agritainment

SPEER, Ill. — The Tanner family’s interest in raising apples goes back to Walde, Switzerland, where Rudolph Tanner ran his family orchard until 1906 when he immigrated to the United States.

Today, the corner of Illinois Routes 17 and 40 where Rudolph’s son, John, eventually settled draws thousands of visitors each fall to Tanners Orchard, an 80-acre family-run agritainment farm destination.

“It was originally a farm. My grandfather had row crops, hogs, cattle, horses, goats, pigs and all that regular stuff back in the 1940s,” said Craig Tanner who, along with his sister, Jennifer, are the third generation to own the business.

Craig and Jennifer’s parents, Richard and Marilyn, are now retired, but continue to be part of life on the farm.

“My grandfather farmed with his dad in Goodfield and then Deer Creek, and he wanted to move. He bought this 80 acres, and there were already some apple trees here when he bought this in 1947,” Craig Tanner said.

“Over the years, they developed the orchard and kind of let everything else go to the side. The market has evolved over the years, as well, and our business is now the apple orchard, the farm market and all the agritainment that goes with it.”

The farm continued to transition and diversify over the years.

“In the late 1980s, early 1990s, we added our bakery, started doing more doughnuts, caramel apples, then fritters, turnovers, and started selling lunch and other food items, and that has really expanded over the years,” Tanner said.

“We added more gifts, more canned goods, preserves, jams, jellies, canned peaches, pickles, different pickled things. So, that has all grown. We started selling cheese. We have cheese from Ropp Jersey Cheese. They’re good friends of ours. We’ve gotten to know them over the years.

“Then we just expanded doing more agritainment, the u-pick operation, u-pick apples, u-pick pumpkins. That has really grown over the years in popularity.”

As visitors’ purchasing trends changed, the family continues to look to new ways to “agritain.”

“People are not buying as much fruit as they used to. When I was a kid, they would come out and buy bushels and bushels. They’d load their car up and drive home with 10 bushels, and now they drive home with a peck of apples, 10 pounds. But they bring the whole family out and they spend the afternoon walking around the orchard and people really enjoy that,” Tanner said.

“Our whole playground has agritainment stuff. We call it the Back 40 Fun Acres and people love to do that. We’ve got the farm animals. They feed the goats, sheep and llama. That has grown.

“We also have pony rides, a barrel train ride and different fun things on the Back 40 Fun Acres.”

Four family members are involved in the day-to-day operation, including Craig, his sister and her daughter and son.

“We’re trying to bring in my children, too. It’s always the goal to find a good spot for them,” the orchardist said.

Festivals

The weekends in September and October “are basically a festival for us,” Tanner said.

“If you come the last couple weeks in September, the first three weeks of October, it’s a zoo. It’s crazy. Early in September, it’s a lot easier to get around. There’s not as many apple varieties ready to pick, but there is stuff to do. Everything’s open. There’s just fewer people, and it’s more fun, but you run into hotter weather and that’s kind of turns people off, I think. Once the weather gets cool, people come out.

“On a busy day, like, say, the first weekend in October, if the weather’s nice, sunny and it’s maybe 65 or 70 degrees that day, I would expect that we’re going to get close to 7,000 people on a Saturday or Sunday.”

Visitors of all ages can check out the corn maze, sunflower field, farm animals, games, fresh-baked goods, daily lunch and dinner specials, and many other activities.

The caramel apples are Tanner’s favorite.

Sustainability

Maintaining the diversity on the farm have kept the business sustainable for the Tanner family since the late 1940s.

“The whole farm is only 80 acres. If we were doing regular crops, it wouldn’t support the family. It’d be barely enough for one guy with a part-time job here,” Tanner said.

“Doing apples, the farm market and everything, it’s a different story. If we were doing just apples, just produce, even with 80 acres, I don’t think would be enough to support what we have. But because of the market, because of the agritainment, being kind of a destination, and everything retail here, it’s a different story.”