Corn mazes are a fall tradition in New England and give local dairy farmers a chance to welcome you to the farm as fall winds down and preparations begin for winter. Even better, it’s a great way to support your local farmer. And make sure you squeeze in a corn maze by Columbus Day because after that some farms will be harvesting the corn for the cows to eat!
Dairy farmer Paul Percy, of Percy Farm in Stowe, Vermont, checks on how his corn is growing, with some help.
The Corn Maze Experience at the Percy Farm in Stowe, Vermont
If you don’t lose your way once or twice when navigating through an acre or two of 8-foot tall corn stalks, you’re a pro. At the Percy Farm they give you their cell phone number at the start to call if you can’t find your way! The maze takes about 30 minutes to complete and even has a bridge to cross in the middle. I visited the maze with my daughter and chatted with dairy farmer and owner, Paul Percy.
“People come here that have never seen a farm and never seen corn, and they see the animals and they’re all excited and they have a great time. Some will come back year after year, ” Paul Percy, of Percy Farm in Stowe, Vermont said.
Kids can put a quarter into a candy machine filled with grain and feed the calves and goats that live at the farm. The farm raises both Jersey and Holstein calves.
The calves are named Maple and Creemee – the perfect pair.
The maze is on the Stowe Bike Path and has incredible views. Paul owns 1,000 acres of land and rents 500 acres as part of the dairy farm he operates with his wife and son. They also make maple syrup with 17,000 maple trees. If you enjoy the open land in New England, it’s another reason to support the farmers who have corn mazes!
“I live on Weeks Hill in Stowe – my parents owned that farm and I was born there. I’ve lived there my entire life, there aren’t many in Stowe that can tell you that.” – Paul Percy, of the Percy Farm in Stowe, Vermont
History of Corn Mazes
The corn maze as we know it today was created to help farmers in need. In 1993, students at Lebanon Valley College in Annville, Pennsylvania decided to create a corn maze and donate the proceeds to the Red Cross to help farmers recovering from devastating floods in the summer of 1993.
Mazes were nothing new, of course: Europeans had long created mazes out of hedges in royal gardens and at private homes. But as one of the students leading the effort back in ’93 noted, “If there was an American adaptation of the European art, it would be a maze in a cornfield.”
The result of student efforts was “The Amazing Maize Maze,” a 3-acre corn maze constructed in the shape of a dinosaur. Open to the public for just two weekends, the maze drew 6,000 visitors who paid $5 per person and the money benefited those rained-out farmers.
Laura brings over 10 years of public relations and marketing experience to her role as the Farmer Relations & Communications Manager for New England Dairy Promotion Board. Laura is a 7th generation Vermonter and has seen firsthand the positive impact dairy farms have on the health of our economy and our communities. Her grandparents and parents were raised on Vermont dairy farms, and her brother is the next generation to farm. She is proud that Vermont dairy farms are a big part of where she comes from and where she's headed as she shares her love for all things dairy.
