Fashion Farm is a place of familiarity every fall not just for the people of Northeast Indiana, but for several generations of families across the country.
The farm is a 200-acre farm filled with a history that dates back to the 1800s.
Located on Lincolnway West outside of Ligonier, the farm was owned by the Green family for 100 years. Charles and June Williams and their family purchased the Green Farm in 1959. They named it Fashion Farm after “W.B. Fashion,” a red poll cow that was the granddaughter of the original 4-H calf purchased by Charles Williams in 1931.
The road the farm sits on was more traveled in the past because U.S. 6, a mile south and widely used today, did not exist yet. With all the traffic going by the farm, Williams set up a roadside stand to sell meat, eggs and other produce, including squash and pumpkins in the fall.
This eventually led to Williams, also known as “Charlie Pumpkin,” setting up a picnic table next to the display and creating the first “pumpkin people.” This garnered some attention and got the creative juices flowing for Williams. The creation of Snoopy being made out of two butternut squashes and many more characters led to a bigger attraction, which led to more people stopping.
“Agrotourism didn’t exist,” Jason Becker, vice president of Fashion Farm and Williams’s grandson, said. “He was a pioneer in the concept of supplementing farm income with having people come to the farm.”
In 1974, a tornado destroyed all but three buildings. A new age started with the rebuilding of the Farm Market and This Ole House. The restaurant, which opened in March 1975, and the fantasyland area became a new look at Fashion Farm.
The corporate business was formed in 1975 and continues today with Williams’s daughter Patricia, who is the secretary, and her husband Russell, as the president, still running the business. Jason and his wife Vicki joined the farm in 2000.
“I knew if I didn’t come in, the fantasyland would have to stop,” Jason Becker said.
Today, the fantasyland features hayrides, wagon rides, mazes, a corn pit, a mega slide and a family activity center. One of the longest-standing features of the fantasyland is the Hall of Presidents. All 46 presidents have their faces painted on a pumpkin.
“(Williams) adjusted the displays and created them to be educational and entertaining at the same time,” Becker said.
Several area elementary schools come during the fall. From preschool kids through second graders to large swaths of families stopping by on the weekends, Fashion has become a destination every fall.
“It was more of drawing attention so people would stop and buy something, not necessarily the displays,” Becker said. “Then, it morphed into this creation of imagination, creativity and a celebration of fall that’s not scary.”
Becker added that last year people from 26 different states visited and signed in the farm’s registration book. He believes there have been 10 generations of families that have come through and visited the farm.
“Having a small business in a small town is not easy,” Becker said. “I’ve taken the principles my grandpa established and expanded them a little bit more as far as diversification to be able to survive.”
Whenever he decides to come in from the fields, he can be proud of the family legacy he has continued to carry on, because it’s been a yearly destination for families every fall.
Brice Vance is the copywriter for NEI, and he is a big fan of fall. It means cooler weather, warmer drinks and pumpkin-flavored treats.
