Mistie Hill Vineyard co-owner Rich Strylowski credits positive word-of-mouth for helping his Custer Park winery build clientele.

It’s only natural, then, to offer visitors a chance to get a little hands-on. Among other fall events, Mistie Hill, 36921 Ohlhues Road, Custer Park, plans a grape stomp at 1 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 27.

Offering a playful nod to a more established wine-country pastime, the stomp gives Rich and his wife, Debbie, a chance to thank the patrons who’ve made Mistie Hill a regular stop — and to raise a bit of “I Love Lucy” chatter.

“We get comments all the time. People say, ‘Oh, do you crush the grapes like Lucille Ball?’” Rich Strylowski said. “I hear that at least once a week. People really think that that’s cool.”

Another common retort?

“I didn’t know you were here.”

Indeed, Mistie Hill planted its first vines in 2008 and began making wine in 2011, but it didn’t open a licensed wine-manufacturing facility until 2018. In March 2025, the Will County Board approved the Strylowskis’ plan to build a 3,400-square-foot facility—including a tasting room—on the family’s five-acre vineyard. It opened in March 2025.

Mistie Hill now sells more than 20 award-winning wines—a mix of reds, whites and fruit varieties—as well as wine slushies and offerings from an expanding charcuterie menu. The wine bar also serves bottled beer, including three varieties of Yuengling. Yes — brewskis from America’s oldest brewery can be had inside this relative newcomer to Illinois’s winery scene.

“I see the clientele really building up, especially in the last few weeks,” Rich Strylowski said in August. “We have a lot of regulars that come in that really like our wine. I see new people coming in almost daily.”

On grape stomp day, after visitors have stomped grapes destined for disposal, they can take more than just memories with them.

“When the people get out of the tub, we’re going to have T-shirts made up with their sizes,” Rich Strylowski said. “We’re going to try to preserve the footprints, and it’s something that they can take with them as a souvenir.”

The community spirit is mirrored elsewhere in the Neighborhood Tourist coverage area. For the past two falls, Fox Republic Brewing Company — which opened at 101 W. Hydraulic Ave., Yorkville, in July 2023 — has collaborated with nearby hop growers to craft its Collision IPA. Head brewer Kevin Hopkins combines hops from the garden outside Fox Republic with donations from local growers to create the beer.

In 2024, Hopkins said, “it came out to about 40 pounds of hops, which is just crazy. It ended up being quite a bit and we used them all.”

Mistie Hill plans to dedicate a noticeably lighter supply of fruit to its stomp. Rich Strylowski estimates it will be “a wheelbarrow’s worth.”

“It’s not going to be, like, half our crop that we’re using,” he said.

Perhaps in time they’ll need more dispensable fruit. For now, up-and-coming wineries and breweries — and the people who visit them — are taking steps to cultivate camaraderie. Barefoot and otherwise.