We get many questions about how we make our corn maze each year. Here's a peek behind the scenes at how it goes from an idea on paper to getting so many people lost and laughing!
Our corn maze is planted every year in mid to late June, depending on the weather. The field is planted in both directions to create a grid.
The maze is then designed by hand. An outline of the field is drawn on about 20 pieces of graph paper taped together. Each line on the graph paper represents 1 row of corn.
Wes Thomas, who has worked at our farm since he was in high school, starts translating his design idea onto graph paper. This process alone takes one or two days and several erasers.
When the corn is about a foot tall, Wes and another member of the farm team head into the field with spray paint and the giant graph paper map of the maze. Wes carefully counts corn stalks and then recounts them before a string trimmer is used to cut the paths into the field and transform it into the maze design.
A lot of counting and re-counting is involved. The job takes a team of two or three people about two days to complete. If a mistake is made, or if some of the corn we planted didn't grow, the maze has to be redesigned while we are in the field.
After the paths are cut, a small tractor and rotary tiller are sent through the maze to make sure the paths have no corn in them. This often takes a full day to complete.
The paths are then compacted and the rocks are removed in order to make the terrain as safe as possible for visitors.
As the corn grows, we strip the leaves off the stalks that line the paths, making it easier to see and safer to travel.
By the time the maze opens, the corn in the maze can be up to 15 feet tall.
We use feed corn to grow the maze because of its size and ability to withstand wind and summer and fall storms. It is edible, but humans don't find it very enjoyable.
We hope you enjoyed learning more about how we create our corn maze. Have fun getting lost!
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