by CARMEN SIERING
For years, Indianapolis-based attorney Matt Lark was asked to conduct school field trips to his family farm in Loogootee, Indiana. After a while, he saw the potential for something more. In 2002, he and his three sons—Kyle, Adam, and Eric—created Lark Ranch, a sprawling 600-acre property less than 60 minutes south of Bloomington.
Dubbed “The Ultimate Fall Experience,” Lark Ranch started out as a traditional pumpkin patch but has grown into what Adam calls an “agricultural-type amusement park.”
Adam is a 2018 Indiana University Kelley School of Business graduate and general manager of the Loogootee location. The family owns another Lark Ranch in Greenfield, Indiana. All three Lark brothers run the business.
Adam says one goal is to have activities for kids that get them moving.
“We try to have a lot of stuff where they are engaged and play,” he says. “We want to give them something to do that they can’t do at home.”
A jumping pillow, kiddie zip line, corn box filled with shelled corn and traditional sandbox toys, and some very whimsical giant birdhouses with ladders, swings, bridges, and slides are just a start. All-age activities include ball throwing games, cornhole, pedal go- karts, a mechanical bull, and the Air Extreme bungee jump.
The ranch also has amusement park rides and food is available on-site.
But maybe the most popular attraction, Adam says, is the one- third scale diesel train, which runs around a one-mile track from one end of the property to the other.
And the ranch still boasts a pumpkin patch.
“We’re exceptionally good at that,” Adam says. “You take the hay ride out and come back and weigh your pumpkins—just 35 cents a pound.” The Larks offer a wide variety of pumpkins and gourds, all grown on the farm.
Lark Ranch is open on weekends in September and October. Tickets are $12 Fridays and $15 Saturdays and Sundays. For more information, visit larkranch.com.
