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- calendar_today October 30, 2026
Halloween Weekend and the Corn Maze Tradition
As Halloween approaches, many people look forward to visiting local pumpkin patches, apple orchards, and especially the seasonal corn maze. This year, Hogan Farms Pumpkin Patch is celebrating its 15th anniversary by unveiling a unique maze design crafted through months of careful planning and teamwork.
Planning the Perfect Maze Design
The process of creating a corn maze starts well before the autumn season. According to Stacy Bonner, the farm manager at Hogan Farms Pumpkin Patch, their team initiates the planning process months in advance. "We make our plan and then they turn it into a workable maze so that there’s only one way in and one way out," Bonner explained.
Each year, locations like Hogan Farms strive to create a fresh and creative maze design. Planning for the next season begins even before the current year's corn maze has closed, as Bonner is already thinking about more Halloween-themed ideas for the future.
The Role of Precision Mazes in Creation
After brainstorming a variety of concepts, Hogan Farms submits their selected design to Precision Mazes, a company specializing in transforming creative visions into navigable attractions. For their 15th anniversary, Hogan Farms submitted their chosen concept to Precision Mazes by the end of February, a full seven months before opening. Bonner highlighted the importance of this collaboration: "This year I told him that we wanted to highlight our anniversary and gave him some ideas and he turned that into a workable maze for us."
Maze Construction: GPS Mower and Overcoming Challenges
Once the design is finalized, the next stage is construction. During the summer, a crew uses a GPS-controlled lawn mower to cut the intricate paths that make up the maze. However, nature sometimes presents obstacles. This season, historic flooding created empty sections where the corn drowned. Bonner shared how the team tackled this setback: "When we got the first aerial, we noticed some empty spots where the corn had drowned because of all the early rain, so our lovely crew came out by hand and replanted and just in two months, we had it back under control." By late September, the maze was ready for visitors, restored to meet the farm's high standards.
Maze Navigation and Guest Experiences
The 15th anniversary corn maze at Hogan Farms is divided into two sections, adding an extra layer of complexity. Some guests find themselves so turned around in the second half that they need to call for assistance. Bonner recounted, "They get lost in that second half, and they’ll call us – ‘How do we get out? We’re stuck, and all we can see is this other guy’s property,’ so it’s fun to see when they call. We’ve only had to send the car out twice for them." Maze navigation remains a memorable challenge for countless visitors each year.
Seasonal Activities and Last Chance to Visit
This Halloween marks the last weekend to experience the Hogan Farms corn maze for the season. The pumpkin patch is open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Friday and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Halloween itself. For more details about seasonal activities or to learn more about the maze and its history, visitors are encouraged to check the farm’s official website.
Source: fox59.com.
