Aw, shucks: An inside look at the great American corn-maze obsession

HOPEWELL TOWNSHIP, N.J. − Beloved children's story bunny Peter Rabbit. Late country star Toby Keith. Taylor Swift, possibly the most famous person on the planet.

Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell. That sweetest eccentric, Willy Wonka. Smokey the Bear, who wants you to help prevent forest fires.

Oh, and steers and octopuses and a moose. Cows and quilts and championship-winning sports teams. "Star Wars" and "Peanuts."

What do they all have in common? Corn.

They're just some of the many designs cut from cornstalks into mazes at farms and in fields across the county, drawing millions of people of all ages who will navigate their twists, turns and dead ends, all in the name of fall fun.

"It's the thrill of getting lost," said Kevin Watson, assistant director at Howell Living History Farm in Hopewell Township, New Jersey, where the state's longest continually running corn maze is located. "It's a unique experience, something you can do on the farm with your friends or your family, something that's great with people of all different ages."

Howell Living History Farm, nestled in Central New Jersey's aptly named Pleasant Valley, offers visitors an immersive experience in late 19th and early 20th century farming and views of trees and rolling hills nearby. Part of Mercer County Park Commission, the farm's mission is primarily educational − and so is its maze, with designs meant to evoke traditional American quilts.

But not all mazes are educational and fun. Some are, well, just fun.

'A mountain of corn' in Illinois

Though mazes and labyrinths date back thousands of years (think King Minos and the Minotaur in Greek mythology), corn mazes are a relatively new diversion. The first full-size maze was created by Earl Beal at his Annville, Pennsylvania, farm in 1993, inspired by his father's work designing mazes for Knoebels, a well-known amusement park.

In Spring Grove, Illinois, Richardson Adventure Farm is all about fun.

Now run by the fifth and sixth generation (the original farmstead dates to 1856), Richardson has it all: sunflower fields and a petting zoo; a tulip field in springtime and pumpkin patch in the fall; food trucks and craft beers; zip lining and train rides.

And there's a massive corn maze − the largest in the country, they say, with 28 acres and more than 10 miles of trails.

"It's cool walking through a mountain of corn," said George Richardson, whose family owns the farm.

"It’s an otherworldly experience. People love the challenge. Everyone gets a map and you go to the checkpoints. At each one, there’s a reward and it’s kind of fun."

Each year, the three branches of the Richardson family who own the farm get together and talk over designs. Iowa-based MazePlay designs Richardson's maze, using sterile corn, which doesn't fertilize, so it's plowed under at the end of the season and replanted from seeds at the start of a new one.

"For adults who ask, we'll give them the corn sex talk," Richardson joked.

After the hog market collapsed in the 1990s, the Richardson family realized they needed to diversify their business, and now their sprawling farm is all about having a good time.

"We had over 10,000 visitors our first year" after switching the emphasis from farming to agricultural entertainment, Richardson said. "It’s grown nicely over the years. Ten years ago, we moved Adventure Farm to a new space so we would have room for more parking and attractions."

And they're far from the only farm that's found new ways to make money by drawing people into mazes and other attractions.

Educating and entertaining

"Some farmers use corn or other crop mazes to attract visitors" and add revenue streams for family farms, which have notoriously tight profit margins, said Claudia Schmidt, assistant orofessor of marketing and local/regional food systems at Pennsylvania State University.

Farms sometimes have shops that sell crafts and specialty foods, petting zoos and other attractions in addition to crop mazes.

"It’s different for each farmer," she said, depending on where they are, what they grow and what their visitors like. "Some see (mazes and other attractions) as a service to the community, knowing that kids enjoy running through the maze."

Educating people about the vital role of agriculture, and the need to preserve and protect farms and farmland, is also part of the equation for many farms, added Schmidt, who said her own children, ages 8 and 9, enjoy going to corn mazes.

"The educational part of agritourism is important," Schmidt said. "People take knowledge home with them. It's fun, and you can learn about farming but also about navigation and map reading and problem solving."

Howell Living History Farm's maze, which is in its 29th year and is operated by a separate nonprofit (Friends of Howell Farm), has always had an educational theme, relating to agriculture and farm life. This year's maze, with its quilt motif, challenges visitors to find puzzle pieces and complete them as quickly as they can − time clocks are spread throughout the maze so people can get cards stamped.

It was designed by Watson's mom, Mary Watson, a graphic designer. Matt Miller, a trustee for the Friends of Howell Farm nonprofit who collaborates on the design, uses surveying equipment to map it out in the field, and then stalks are cut to make the path, Kevin Watson said.

Families bring their children, and groups of teens and adults sometimes get competitive, trying to best each other's times. And everyone gets to learn more about Howell, which remains a working farm with cows, horses, sheep and various crops − all nurtured and harvested using 1890s-1900s methods and technology.

Making mazes, making a living

Around 1995, Brett Herbst was reading a magazine when he saw a 1993 article about the country's first corn maze. Intrigued, the recent BYU agribusiness graduate thought this might be his way of making a living in agriculture.

Coming from a farming family, he loved the land. But farming didn't love his family back, and his father lost the farm when Herbst was a young child. That left a lasting imprint on Herbst, who created the first corn maze west of the Mississippi River (in American Fork, Utah) and hasn't looked back since.

Small farms are disappearing, he said, and big farms are getting bigger, so helping families hold onto their land is a big part of why he still loves what he does.

"My mom used to say, you can take the boy out of the farm, but you can't take the farm out of the boy," he said. "I love being outdoors and working with my hands, and there aren't a lot of things you can do that give you a sense of purpose every day."

Today, his company, The Maize, has created more than 4,000 mazes across the country. Farmers can choose from thousands of design templates and tweak them for their individual needs, and to appeal to their communities, Herbst said: "What will work for them? We can take this design and make it your local high school mascot, or the team that just won a championship. People like to have a local connection."

This year, he said, "Peanuts," the beloved comic strip, and country star Luke Bryan are some of the designs that stand out.

Most farms he works with are family owned, and that means a lot to Herbst. "It's family blood and sweat, and all farms are good. It's open space; it gets kids out of the city and educates them about where their food comes from."

Contact Phaedra Trethan by email at ptrethan@usatoday.com, on X (formerly Twitter) @wordsbyphaedra, or on Threads @by_phaedra

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Inside look at the great American corn-maze obsession