The site with its colourful images points to many reasons why people like to visit the farm in the Township of Southwold. For instance, the fall 2008 harvest season attracted more than 2,500 people to pick their own apples at the friendly, family-owned farm, which draws visitors from all over Southwestern Ontario and beyond.

Great Lakes Farms is a 155-acre fruit and cash crop farm located just west of Port Stanley. It has been run by the Brooymans family since 2000. Rene and Anne Brooymans acquired it as an addition to their farm next door, which grows fruits for wholesale markets.

Great Lakes is operated by their daughter, MaryAnne Van De Gevel, and her husband Joe. They have transformed it into a centre for business and pleasure throughout the year.

The renovated apple barn has a large kitchen, restrooms, an outdoor patio and games spaces. The dining rooms can comfortably seat up to 140 guests for dinners and weddings. Great Lakes welcomes bus tours and offers country-style meals for groups as small as 30 and as large as 80.

School bus tours bring students to learn about apples and pumpkins in ways that relate to the Ontario curriculum. Just for fun there is a corn maze and a variety of activities including scavenger hunts and tractor-drawn wagon rides.

And bags of fruit! The farm grows 13 varieties of apples plus strawberries, pumpkins and pears, all for sale to visitors in season. Within three or four years there will also be peaches from a newly planted orchard.

“Local customers have done wonders to support us,” MaryAnne Van De Gevel says. “We’re new to Elgin tourism but it seems that there are lots of opportunities to work with other businesses in the area to help each other attract visitors. We’re excited about that.”