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Wandering Maine's Corn Mazes

September 24, 2008 - MECHANIC FALLS — Fifty minutes may sound like a long time to spend in a cornfield. But it seemed more like 15 during an effort to make it through the corn maze at Harvest Hill Farms.

Walk through one opening, wander around, stop to decipher clues. Maybe jog for a bit.

Finally, hope and wonder if a way out will appear. It is a-mazeing when it does.

The maze was the creation of Maize, a Pennsylvania company that specializes in creating intricate corn mazes using satellite technology.

Other farms around Maine have mazes cut with intricate patterns, games or clues. Some, like Pumpkin Valley Farm in Dayton, offer moonlit mazefests or flashlight fun.

Many mazes that have been run for years have become more elaborate.

In Dayton, Pumpkin Hill Farm used to offer 10 questions to help maze goers find their way out of the maze. This year, word games are spread throughout the maze, challenging visitors to figure out the "conundrum" and qualify to enter a prize drawing if they succeed.

"We started out with the 10 questions. If you guess right, it guides you through the maze. If you guess wrong, you may go in circles a few times," said Pumpkin Hill Farm owner Keith Harris.

An hour spent figuring out a corn maze goes faster than one would think. At least, it did at Harvest Hill's new cornfield maze, which is cut and decorated in the image of a pirate ship.

Several quiz stations in the maze provide insight into famous pirates, such as the fact that Thomas Tew was a sea captain from Rhode Island who turned pirate or that Black Beard was as real pirate.

Interesting as these fun facts are, they offer little understanding of where the exit lies. Mostly, an intrepid explorer must follow her senses, listening to the rustle of nearby trees or a tractor in the distance – even the formation of clouds above.

Without these available clues, it's easy to circle back.

Even the wooden platform overlook in this corn-maze-cut pirate ship does not offer a view to the exit. After almost an hour of wandering around corn-stalk corners, you begin to wonder if the monarch butterflies that seem to be everywhere are pointing to the way out.

Probably the best way to approach a corn maze is to consider it like a woodland trail wandering every which way, rather than like a man-made house where you enter one door and leave the next.

"It's a living piece of art," said Sage Peterson, spokesperson for Harvest Hill Farms.

In some corn mazes, a guide is handy. Fortunately for maze goers at Harvest Hill, which opens its maze Friday, there will be staff in the maze available to offer clues to those who just keep going in circles.

While it is the first year for Harvest Hill Farms maze, the experience will be nearly country-fair like, with a barn full of farm animals, a mini-haystack maze for small children, and a country market filled with produce from the farm, offerings that are not unusual at Maine farms with corn mazes.

After years of serving local communities from Route 11, Harvest Hill Farm moved this year to Route 26 specifically to offer agricultural entertainment on a major road used by lots of Mainers.

"The corn maze ties in with our image that this is a safe place for people to bring their families. Ag entertainment is centered on the family," said Peter Bolduc, Harvest Hill Farm president.

On the hill that runs along Route 26 with 3,000-foot road footage, the old farm here is getting a face-lift, although the corn maze is not quite clear.

Rest assured – the hidden pirate ship is in the back of the farm buildings by the woodlot, away from the traffic.

By DEIRDRE FLEMING Staff Writer, Portland Press Herald, September 18, 2008


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