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Lost in a MAiZE
Annual corn maze open for any, all wanderers
The sheep may be in the meadow but at Temple Hall Farm Regional Park near Leesburg, the cows are not in the corn. The people are.
According to George Tabb, park manager at Temple Hall Farm, people wandering the ins and outs of the 14-acre intricate maze are all ages and sizes.
And the corn forms the largest maze ever grown since the event was started eight years ago.
Tabb explained that The MAiZE Co., based in Utah, is responsible for the "construction" of the maze and that it has grown mazes all over the world.
"They usually plant the corn in the spring, later than when the farmer normally wants it because we want it green during the maze season. We give them the design; they put it on the computer and they plot it all out so that they can accurately spray the plants with weedkiller when they are six inches tall.
"The rest of the corn keeps growing so when it finishes growing, you have the design," Tabb said.
The corn, by the time it is finished growing, is 10 feet tall.
The company has workers on site for only one day, usually in July, to winnow out the unwanted stalks. However, the project involves several days of waiting and computer work back in Utah.
The process works, Tabb said.
"It varies day by day, but over the season we have nearly 20,000 [people who] come through the maze," Tabb said.
Is this an activity that is safe for those who have absolutely no sense of direction even with a map and a satellite guidance system? Tabb indicates that it is.
"When you come in and buy your tickets, you get a passport that has directions to make it successfully through the maze," Tabb said, adding that the system involves the use of numbered posts.
The biggest surprise for veterans of past mazes is that this year there will be two mazes.
"We will have a daytime maze and a nighttime maze. ...In the past there was some vandalism at night so this way, we end up with no damage to the daytime maze," Tabb said.
The visitor area has also been completely reconfigured and moved a little bit further away from the activities area.
"This gives us much more room. We've also added pony rides and we've also reconfigured the central area. We have visitor control fences that have not existed before and which will make the operation go much more smoothly," said Tabb.
Contact the writer at ecarlton@timespapers.com.
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