Located in Speer, Tanner’s Orchard has more than 11,000 trees and at least 17 varieties of apples. The family-run orchard is open to the public from Aug. 1 through Nov. 30. (Photo courtesy of Tanner’s Orchard)

Tanner’s Orchard, a family-run country farm celebrating its 70th year, has become a family destination in central Illinois for picking apples, having lunch or watching the kids play in a large play area complete with a wooden ship.

“We usually go a couple of times each year,” said Tonya Bruns of Pekin. “My boys love the play area and we all love the apple cider donuts.”

Bruns and her mom, Patty Martin, recently took Bruns’ sons, 5-year-old Zach and 2-year-old Ben, as well as her

nephews, 5-year-old Mason and 2-year-old Carter, to Tanner’s, located on Route 40 in Speer, about 25 miles north of Peoria.

“We had donuts and milk in the Apple Bin Bakery, played in the Back 40, which is free in August, and shopped in the market,” Bruns added.

Patty Martin of Pekin rides a cart with three of her grandchildren, 5-year-old Zach and 2-year-olds Ben and Carter, at Tanner’s Orchard recently. Located about 25 miles north of Peoria, the orchard is celebrating its 70th year. (Photo courtesy of Tonya Bruns)

Four generations of the Tanner family have been welcoming the public to Tanner’s Orchard since 1947. The orchard is open for public visits between Aug. 1 and Nov. 30.

“When my grandpa started the orchard, they used to have livestock, and he would go to the farm sales and would go door-to-door and pedal apples around Peoria,” said Jennifer Beaver, who owns and manages Tanner’s now with her brother Craig and their parents, Richard and Marilyn.

Richard’s father, John, started the orchard in Speer in 1947, but the family’s roots in apple growing actually began in

Switzerland, where Rudolph Tanner ran his family’s orchard until 1906 when he and his wife, Mina, came to America. They settled in Deer Creek in Tazewell County and started a new orchard there. Their son John, Beaver’s grandfather, eventually took over the Deer Creek orchard but eventually moved it to Speer since the original location was “five dusty, bumpy miles from the nearest hard road,” according to the orchard’s website.

Beaver, who grew up on the farm, recalls that her family took apples to the Metro Center farmer’s market when she was a child, but Tanner’s doesn’t do any off-the-farm wholesaling now.

Another change has been the growth of what she called “entertainment farming.”

“The entertainment side began probably in the late ’90s,” Beaver said. “We belong to the North America Farm Direct Marketing Association (NAFDMA), and Rich and Marilyn and my aunt and uncle that used to own it with them would go to this conference and get a lot of ideas,

They got the idea for the goats and the wooden ship and the wooden train, and it’s just grown from there.”

(Photo courtesy of Tanner’s Orchard)

Over the years the Farm Market has expanded from just selling donuts and caramel apples to now include salsa, sweet cider, jam, pies and more. Lunch is available most days, as well as dinner on weekdays in September and October.

“A lot of the expansion has come from people asking for different things,” Beaver said. “We’re not afraid to try new stuff. If it fails, well it didn’t work and we’ll put that one in the books. But if works, that’s great.”

Beaver said the family is always working on new things and improvements. “We would like to add some more stuff to the Back 40 Fun Acres, and we do have some new products in the market,” she said. “Craig has just planted a new variety of apple trees this year that will be ready in about three years. There’s always something going on.”

One of the most popular features at Tanner’s is when the public is invited to pick their own apples beginning Labor Day weekend. U-pick hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. seven days a week in September and into October as long as their apples left to pick. “They’re usually gone by Columbus Day,” Beaver said.

The Tanner family likes to invite the public to pick their own apples because it’s an experience many people don’t get anywhere else, she added.

“These days many kids don’t have any family or friends that have farms, so it’s nice for them to be able to get away from the city and come here and do an activity that’s a tradition in the fall. They love to walk out there, and they’ll sometimes pick an apple and eat it right off the tree. I guess it’s an emotional connection to nature for the parents, and they get to spend time with their kids doing something fun,” Beaver said.

A corn maze also opens Labor Day weekend and pumpkins will be available in mid-September.

Beaver said her family attributes the orchard’s success over the past seven decades to their steadfast dedication to it.

“It does support three-and-a-half families right now,” she said. “My brother, Craig, and I and our mom and dad and one of my other brother’s wife works here. It’s our only job, so we have to make it succeed. That’s one part of it. Another thing is we love doing it.”

In the height of the orchard’s season, which is just beginning, Tanner’s has more than 200 employees. At least some of the next generation of Tanners is likely to join the operation in the future, including Beaver’s oldest daughter who’s planning to study agriculture tourism in college.

“I think it’s just a sense of family tradition,” Beaver said. “Grandpa set a great example, and my mom and dad have done that with us, and hopefully, my brother and I are doing that with our children.”

Beginning Sept. 1, Tanner’s Orchard will be open 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. seven days a week. Saturdays and Sundays in September and October are dubbed Festival Days with special events and pricing. The orchard will close for the season on Nov. 30.

“We had 100,000 people here on the weekend Festival Days last year,” Beaver said. “It’s very humbling to see what Tanner’s Orchard has become from when my grandpa started it.”

For more information about Tanner’s Orchard hours and admission prices, visit the orchard’s Facebook page or website at www.tannersorchard.com.

–70 years of fruit and fun: Four generations of family members have welcomed customers to Tanner’s Orchard–