Mac Condill
Patti & Bill Mitchell
and Skipper
Mac Condill, an agriculture graduate from Illinois State, and one of the owners of The Great Pumpkin Patch in Arthur, Illinois has shared his knowledge and donated seeds to the Horticulture Center. Mac is not only an “idea” man but he also commits to those ideas and successfully follows them through. Mac and his family raise over 400 different varieties of squash, pumpkins and gourds as well as establishing and running a bakery at the farm. He also sets up the fall Cucurbitaceae displays at the Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania and has set up displays at the St. Louis Botanical Gardens.
Bill Mitchell is an agriculture graduate from Illinois State, and the owner of Mitchell Farms Produce, in Bloomington, Illinois and has donated his time, knowledge, and resources to the Horticulture Center. Bill and his wife, Patti, have 4 children, two full time jobs and run their own business where they sell cantaloupe, watermelon, and sweet corn as well as other vegetables at 8 different markets during the growing season. Bill is also an “idea” man who had an epiphany after buying a melon at a roadside stand on the way to Macomb. As a youngster he sold truck loads of melons for 50 cents a piece, looking for a new venture to enter he decided to get back to his roots and try raising melons again and the rest as they say, is history.