Amazing Maize
Every fall, tradition kicks in and many students find themselves celebrating the abundant harvest by getting lost in some of the valley’s corn mazes.
The mazes are full of dead ends, twisting turns and 10-foot tall corn to confuse those brave enough to venture through the dark shadows. Occasionally, there are even haunted trails cut through the corn stalks.
Chelsie Barthlome, a junior majoring in elementary education, said going through a corn maze is a hard process.
“It took us forever to get out, but it was fun,” Barthlome said.
Not everyone find the mazes difficult, however. With a little ingenuity and some loose corn maze ethics, the journey can be a piece of cake.
“Usually what I’ll do is get up onto a bridge, find the direction of the exit and go in that direction, whether there’s corn or not,” junior engineering student Jeff Brady said, admitting that his best strategy for getting through corn mazes isn’t necessarily legal.
“Corn mazes are amazing,” Louie Stuart, a junior majoring in animal science said.
There are two advertised corn mazes in Cache Valley this year. They are located at the American West Heritage Center and Green Canyon Farms. Anyone looking for a good scare late at night can easily find one in the maze.
American West Heritage Center Corn Maze
Billed as “Cache Valley’s original corn maze,” the Heritage Center’s corn puzzle is now open for anyone looking for a good scare, associate director of the AWHC Steve Delong said.
Located at 4025 S. Highway 89-91 in Wellsville, AWHC has a seven-acre corn maze full of twists and turns to get lost in.
The maze opened on Monday, Oct. 3 and will stay open through Oct. 31. The maze is open for business Monday through Saturday from 5-10 p.m. The last tickets are sold at 9 p.m. each night. Prices are $4 for students with student ID, $5 for adults, $3 for children and $20 per family. There are also group discounts with groups of 20 or more getting $1 off each ticket.
There are also pumpkins for sale for $2 each. Cold and hungry maze-goers can get a doughnut and hot chocolate for a $1.
“We try to be a casual place for a family or students to enjoy themselves, step back and enjoy the farm,” Delong said.
The AWHC works in cooperation with Utah State University. USU owns the land and the buildings the maze is located on. Delong said AWHC is a non-profit organization and all proceeds from the corn maze go to support the center, which holds several activities each year including school group programs, summer camps, the Festival of the American West and the Harvest Festival coming up on Oct. 15.
Green Canyon Farms Corn Maze
The Green Canyon Farms Corn Maze, which is shaped like a haunted house with a graveyard and a tree being hit by lightning, is now open.
The owner, Ron Jensen, said most people coming out of the 12-acre corn maze were scared.
Every night maze-goers can find “Corneleus” and win a free T-shirt that says “I’m a survivor of the Green Canyon Farms Corn Maze” on the front, and “Get lost in the Green Canyon Farms Corn Maze” on the back. The shirts cost $5.
There is also candy, soda and hot chocolate for sale.
The maze is open Monday through Thursday, 6-11 p.m., Friday from 6 p.m. to midnight and Saturday from 2 p.m. to midnight. Prices are $6 for adults, $4 for kids and students can have $1 off with student ID. Also, anyone coming Monday gets an additional $1 off their ticket price. A family pass is $25 and admits all immediate family members into the maze.
Located at 2850 N. 50 East in North Logan, the maze is the place “where on the weekends, the screams are yours,” Jensen said.
-hollyadams@cc.usu.edu