- Michigan farms work with design firms, GPS and satellite-guided tractors to create corn mazes months in advance
- ‘Agritainment’ like mazes and hayrides help farmers boost revenue
- Themed mazes featuring sports, music and pop culture draw families each fall
This fall in Michigan, you can stand inside Amon-Ra St. Brown’s headstand in Commerce Township, traverse the Grateful Dead logo in Traverse City or get lost in Lainey Wilson’s cowboy hat in Washington Township.
Those are a few of the many corn mazes at Michigan farms and orchards, which are embracing “agritainment” to try and draw customers as part of the state’s agritourism industry.
Getting out of the mazes might be complicated — and so is the process of creating them.
Each twist and dead end of the increasingly elaborate corn mazes comes from months of careful design. And they’re created using increasingly advanced technology, including computer software, GPS coordinates, satellite-guided tractors and drones.
“Probably the biggest challenge is just nailing down what you want your design to be and something that will work in your size of field,” said Brett Herbst, owner of The Maize, a Utah-based company that worked with more than 30 Michigan farms this year.
How it’s done: From GPS to drones
Designing the corn mazes is far more intricate than chopping down corn stalks.
Orchards often begin planning their mazes early in the year. The ideas are usually their own, but many work with outside firms to operationalize the design — and make sure they plant enough corn to pull it off.
RELATED:
- Winter lovers, help us put together Michigan’s coolest bucket list
- Swimming drone explores underwater mountain in Lake Superior
- Four meteor showers to watch in the coming weeks across Michigan
“Between five to eight acres is probably the ideal size,” said Herbst of The Maize, which uses advanced software to create GPS coordinates that will determine future cutting plans while the farms they work with focus on growing the corn.
Once the corn is a few feet tall, usually between 6 and 12 inches, Herbst’s firm will send a team of employees who use GPS-guided tractors or mowers to cut the corn. As it grows in, the design will become more apparent.
“It can be done in a couple of days, if we have to, but we like to spend a couple of months on it,” Herbst told Bridge Michigan. “After you look at something and walk away from it for a week, you might have different opinions.”
After the maze is cut, the company collaborates with farms to add signs, games and checkpoints to make the experience more interactive. The farm, meanwhile, will mow the path regularly to keep it clear.
The Maize is one of two major corn maze design firms in the US. In Michigan, it has worked with the Long Family Orchard in Oakland County, which this year features the maze inspired by Amon-Ra St. Brown of the Detroit Lions, and the Westview Orchards in Macomb County, which this year features a design inspired by Lainey Wilson, a country music star.
The other major national design firm, Maize Quest of Pennsylvania, has also worked with multiple Michigan farms this year, including on the Grateful Dead logo maze at Jacob’s Farm in Traverse City.
The firm usually visits around the Fourth of July with GPS and a rototiller to grind up the corn that needs to be removed to make the design of the corn maze, said Jacob’s Farm owner Hiram Witkop.
“About mid-August, we go through and make sure that there isn’t any corn that got into the path,” Witkop said. “Then, we take aerial shots of it with drones to make sure it looks correct,” before opening for the season later in the month.
Agritainment and agritourism take stage
Corn mazes are a form of what industry experts call “agritainment,” farm-based entertainment options that include hayrides, pony rides and petting zoos. Experts say it’s part of a broader “agritourism” movement that has helped Michigan farms diversify.
“As the margins of raising corn, wheat, or selling milk from your dairy farm become tighter and tighter, the profitability of commodity-based agriculture has had some farmers turn towards agritourism as a revenue source,” said Wendy Wieland, an innovation counselor for Michigan State University’s Product Center.
Now, it has become a stable business in Michigan, especially during the fall when people flock to orchards and want more than just cider and donuts.
Agritourism combines parts of what the state says is a larger $126 billion food and agriculture industry and a $54.8 billion tourism industry.
“We are such a tourism focused state … that it’s always one of the top three contributions to Michigan’s economy,” Wieland told Bridge.
In 2022, Michigan ranked fourth nationally for total agritourism income, with farmers generating an estimated $56.6 million, according to the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.. Adjusted for inflation, agritourism income rose by 124 percent from 2017 to 2022.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer recently proclaimed October “agritourism month,” calling it a “niche form” of tourism that benefits farmers.
Among other things, it “provides ways for farmers to diversify their operations by offering value-added products and activities to protect their businesses against challenging weather conditions and market fluctuations,” Whitmer said in her proclamation.
New entertainment offerings have helped businesses like the Westview Cider Mill in Macomb County remain a draw even though direct consumer sales it had counted on since the 1940s began to slow, said owner Katrina Roy.
Westview can no longer rely on family matriarchs coming to the orchard to shop for the season and taking apples home to pack and freeze for the year, she said.
The farm “had to change and the change was to add on agritourism,” Roy said.
From Tom Izzo to Charlie Brown
Like many family farms that have made a similar transition, Westview now has farm animals, a playground, a straw mountain for kids to climb and — for the last 30 years — a corn maze.
This year, Westview is among several farms around the country who worked with The Maize on a design featuring Lainey Wilson, the country music singer. Visitors can also enter a sweepstakes for a trip to see her perform in Las Vegas in November.
“It’s just kind of a fun way to (encourage) those who are Lainey fans, get through the corn maze,” Roy said.
In years past, the orchard has been designed to look like Michigan State University basketball coach Tom Izzo, a Ford Mustang, Luke Bryan, Reba McEntire and Charlie Brown.
“Every year we just really look to see what’s going on,” Roy said. “ Metro Detroit is really a sports town or a car town. If there is a particular team … that’s winning, we capitalize on that.”
At Jacob’s Farm in Traverse City, this year’s maze is a 10-acre ode to the Grateful Dead, which draws from the band’s logo of a skull with a lightning bolt through the middle. The interactive maze has checkpoints that give people more information about the maze and clues on where to go.
The full maze usually takes about 45 minutes, but the farm also offers a miniature version for “families who just want to go and have fun,” Witkop said.
On the last day of the season, the farm will transform the maze into a haunted attraction with scare actors throughout the maze to celebrate Halloween.
The farm first began offering a corn maze in 2008 and in years past has featured
Alice in Wonderland, dinosaurs and Motown, among others.
“It’s become a family tradition,” Witkop said.
Thank you to our Bridge Michigan Outdoors sponsors
Bridge Michigan Outdoors is made possible by generous financial support from our sponsors. Please visit the About page for more information and to subscribe to Bridge Michigan Outdoors. Interested in becoming a sponsor? Contact Emma Carr.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under our Republication Guidelines. Questions? Email republishing@bridgemi.com
You must be logged in to post a comment.