Behind the stalks: What it takes to design a captivating corn maze

Every fall, Sherman Farm’s 200 acres in Conway morph into a vibrant playground for around 10,000 visitors. Central to the farm is its renowned corn maze, surrounded by a concession stand offering cider donuts, kettle corn, burgers, ice cream, as well as games, goat petting, and hayrides.

The farm has been in Michele Dutton’s family for 60 years. It was originally a dairy farm, but Dutton, her brother, and their mother got out of the dairy business due to dwindling profit and jumped into agritainment in 2007. The first year’s corn maze design was of the New Hampshire state quarter, and the designs have evolved since then. 

“We come up with a theme or an idea based on pop culture or something relative to the state or the community,” Michele Dutton said. 

The maze has been rated one of the best in New England. Each design takes about a year to complete, and the Dutton family partners with local schools and organizations to come up with something new and clever each year. This year’s design was created by Drive Brand Studio in North Conway for Fryeburg Recreation Department in Maine, which is trying to raise funds to buy a bus for senior trips. The maze opens Sept. 20 and features a bus in the center of the maze, and four destinations in each corner that represent places seniors might travel to, like the beach and a botanical garden. 

“It’s a lot of set up, and a lot of planning,” Dutton said. “We have it down to a science at this point.” 

The family starts building the maze in May, planting corn in a 10-acre spot, before The MAiZE Company, based in Utah, works on the final design. 

The MaiZE Company is the world’s largest corn maze designer, working with over 300 farms in Canada, the United States, and Europe. Their mazes have been featured on “American Idol” and the Super Bowl. 

Farm owners submit a concept and the design process starts in February or March with seven maze designers who design the maze on a computer until the farm is happy with how it looks.

Cutting crews start in June, when the corn is low to the ground, and finish in August. The cutters take a sheet of coordinates with them in the field and connect them like a big connect the dots game, said Kamille Combs, the marketing director at the MaiZE Company.

Sherman Farm is one of a number of farms in the state that has a popular maze each year. 

Tim Anderson, the owner of Washburn’s Windy Hill Orchard in Greenville, has been cutting mazes at his farm since 1997. He was one of the first farms in the state to have a corn maze.

“They were popular out West. Back then, it was a newer thing to the area,” Anderson said. “We were trying to grow our orchard as a pick-your-own operation.”

He uses a different technique than the Duttons. Anderson plants five acres of corn in a grid pattern. He grows 240 rows of corn in one direction and 130 rows of corn in the other direction. He then draws the maze on a giant piece of graphic paper, marks out the path, paints it with spray paint, and then pulls the corn stalks out by hand in early July. The path is about a mile-long walk.

Anderson, who works in construction on the side, does the maze just for the enjoyment of it.  

“It is a lot of fun because you’re watching it grow and you’re taking care of it,” he said. “It’s like your baby all summer and then all of sudden it’s opening day and people get to see people enjoy it.”

Corey Collins, who owns Collins Farm in Bath, has been making corn mazes for seven years. 

He starts with a satellite image of his 13-acre cornfield and hand sketches his design ideas. He goes through dozens of drafts before he decides which one he likes.

“It’s one of the world’s largest freehand pieces of art that you can walk in,” he said. 

Collins gives guests an aerial view of his maze, which his brother-in-law captures with a drone each year.  

“I’ve just enjoyed entertaining other people and this seemed like something really fun and entertaining to do,” he said.

Many of these farm owners turned to corn mazes after dairy farming became unsustainable.  Dairy farms, which used to be the number one agriculture business in New Hampshire, have dwindled to about 94 farms, according to a 2021 report by the University of New Hampshire. 

The Collins Farm was a dairy operation for about 50 years until his family sold the herd two years ago. When it’s time to start the corn maze business, Collins spends about 100 hours a week getting ready.  It’s a way to supplement his income.

“This is still a fairly new operation,” said Collins, who works part time creating training videos for a manufacturing company. “It’s nothing that’s going to pay all the bills.”

Mazes date back centuries, to Ancient Greeks and Romans and medieval monks, who used them as puzzles and games. Corn mazes grew more popular in Europe with Adrian Fisher, who is credited with designing the world’s first cornfield maze in 1993. 

The MaiZE Company started to make them popular in the United States in 1996. Brett Herbst, the owner of the company, read a magazine article about Fisher in 1995. 

“That inspired him, he was just a dreamer and entrepreneur,” Combs said.  

Herbst grew up on a dairy farm in Idaho. His father tried to make it farming and Herbst himself loved farming and knew he wanted to get into that industry.

“He had such compassion for farmers and their struggle,” Combs said. 

The mazes are a way for small farmers to generate revenue, hold onto their farmland and expose people to farm life. And at the same time, it’s a way for farmers to hold on to their farms and the memories that come with it. 

“It’s still farming,” Combs said. “We like to say we’re growing memories alongside growing crops.”