Jim Lazzaro of Cortland visits Jonamac Orchard, 19412 Shabbona Road in Malta, every year with his family, but this year was different.

He visited during the orchard’s Cider Fest Weekend, Sept. 17 and 18, which celebrated the opening of a new cider house. Construction on the building began in late March.

Lazzaro learned about the cider house’s opening weekend on Jonamac’s website. Interested in seeing the new building and wanting to pick apples with his family, he visited the orchard with eight members of his family, including his wife, children and grandchildren.

“We always come, pick apples, buy doughnuts, cider, fudge and a pie and have a Sunday dinner with our family after,” Lazzaro said. “I was excited to see the new cider house, so I thought we’d come out for the day and spend time with family.”

The cider house is open to all ages, offering wine and hard cider tastings for adults and non-alcoholic apple cider tastings for children. The non-alcoholic cider, hard cider and wine are made from apples grown at the orchard. The apple cider is made on site, the hard cider is made by Wild Onion Brewery in Lake Barrington and the wine is made by Prairie State Winery in Genoa.

The apple cider was previously made in a room to the back of the orchard’s country store and bakery; now the cider will be made in the cider house.

“Before, we could only make cider on weekdays because the noise was too loud, and we didn’t want to distract customers,” said Mike Spychal, one of the owners. “Now, making apple cider is encouraged on weekends, and visitors can watch the cider being made in our interactive viewing rooms.”

Spychal said the viewing rooms are also a way for parents to educate their children about farms, apples and the cider-making process.

“Most people don’t know how cider is made or that we made our own cider,” he said. “Now the process is done in front of customers, and families can see how apples are turned into cider.”

The taste of the apple cider changes throughout the year, depending on what apples are ripe and are being picked: early season apples in September taste sweeter, late season apples in October and November are more tart.

Jonamac Orchard opened for the season Aug. 24 and will close Nov. 23, the day before Thanksgiving. Fifty types of apples are grown at the orchard, with 25 varieties available for picking. The orchard’s 12-acre pumpkin patch will open this weekend. The orchard offers a petting zoo, a jumping pillow, a barnyard play area, rentable campfire sites, hayrides, a corn maze, apple cannons and launcher and a pumpkin Howitzer.

Visitors can shop at the orchard’s country store, which sells a variety of jams, jellies, mustards, apple butter, gifts and crafts. The store’s bakery sells homemade apple doughnuts, breads, apple pies, kettle corn, caramel apples, apple pizzas and fudge. Bags of picked apples, gourds, squash, apple cider and apple wine are also for sale in the store.

Brian Korbel of Bloomingdale visited during the cider house’s opening weekend with a group of 20 people, including family and friends.

“I’ve been coming to the orchard with my family and four kids every year for seven or eight years,” Korbel said. “We always pick apples and come back to pick pumpkins. I never knew about the hard cider or wine, and having a cider house with tastings gives us the opportunity to try before buying.”

JD Joiner of Wheaton visited the orchard with his girlfriend, Kimmy Gilbertsen of New Lenox. He was pleasantly surprised to discover it was the cider house’s grand opening weekend.

“We were wondering why it was so crowded,” Joiner said. “I never knew about the hard cider or wines. This is my first time here in five years, and we came to pick apples and buy doughnuts. The wines were really good. We’ll definitely purchase some and be coming back next year.”