An a-maze-ing business
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| The Richardson Family. From left: Ryan, George, Wendy, Margaret, Robert and Carol. (Photo by Candace H. Johnson) |
As our society becomes more reliant on Global Positioning Systems (GPS) to find our way around, it has become less difficult to get lost — even for those who lack a sense of direction. However, the Richardson family in Spring Grove has built its farm around the concept of getting lost.Whether you’re directionally gifted or challenged, Richardson Farm encourages people to visit their farm in Spring Grove specifically to lose their way in their corn maze.
Above the entrance to its 28-acre corn maze, the farm has posted a tall white sign stating: “Get Lost Here.” Touted as the World’s Largest, Most Intricately Designed Corn Maze, once you walk underneath the sign you’re in a corn field comprised of 11.1 miles of trails.
On average, it takes two hours to complete the entire maze, the Richardsons say. And that’s if you don’t get lost.
“We had a group of 20-somethings in recently who took four hours to go through the maze,” says Robert Richardson, a member of the Richardson family who owns and operates Richardson Farm. “We also had another group who went through it in an hour, and they were just dripping with sweat. They’ve been coming for years and time themselves on how fast they can get through the maze.”
In addition to the maze, visitors also could get lost in the additional activities Richardson Farm has on its grounds, including peddle carts, a petting zoo, concession stand, and this year’s new feature the 70-foot zip line that takes off from 30-feet in the air and soars over the pumpkin patch.
The zip line takes advantage of the farm’s 50-foot observation tower, which provides sweeping views of the corn maze, pumpkin patch and attractions on the grounds. The farm also has a 50-foot tunnel slide, which attracts everyone from 4-year-olds to grandmothers, says Ryan Richardson, a fifth generation family member.
Since you might be there for awhile, visitors can purchase a variety of concessions, including kettle corn from a stand made from an old grain bin or funnel cakes in a red barn-like structure. Richardson Farm also invites guests to bring their own hot dogs and marshmallows and spend time around a campfire that farm employees will build and start for you.
Overall the farm aims to provide, “A variety of activities for a broad appeal of age ranges,” Robert says.
World’s Largest, Most Intricately Designed
In the midst of the stalks, you might not be able to tell, but the trails have been specifically laid out to form an extensively planned, themed set of images.
Now in their ninth year designing corn mazes, the Richardson family, who have been farming on the land in Spring Grove since 1840, have a process.
“We decide our theme in January,” says George Richardson, Robert’s brother and Ryan’s father. “We thought Abe Lincoln was a natural choice for this year. My wife was looking in National Geographic magazine and noticed that they were releasing new commemorative designs of pennies.”
The design took its inspiration from three of the four Lincoln commemorative penny designs created by the United States Mint (visit www.usmint.gov to see the pennies). The maze starts with an image of a young Lincoln sitting on a log and reading a book. The trails that make up this image are the least complicated in the maze and can be completed in 15 to 20 minutes, Robert explains.
To make it more fun for young children, the Richardsons created two trails, the Finger Fortune trail and the Quiz Maze. On the Finger Fortune trail, visitors are instructed to make only right hand turns and along the way to color their fingers with oil pastels at certain checkpoints. At the end of the maze, they can coordinate the colors on their fingers with a set of 173 possibilities to find out their fortune, which can be “eerily” accurate, Robert says.
In the Quiz Maze, visitors can take one of several themed sheets of questions, including sports-related questions, Fun for the Young at Heart and Corn-y Quiz questions. At certain checkpoints, you answer the questions and based on the response will be given correct or incorrect directions.
From there, the maze branches into one of the most complicated parts — a tree. In the tree (that’s made of corn), the trails are all similar sizes and types, so it’s easy to lose your way, Robert says.
Along the way, Richardson Farm has placed several checkpoints for visitors to mark on their map. If they reach all the checkpoints, visitors are awarded with a certificate of completion.
An elevated wooden bridge (one of three in the maze) provides a spot to survey your status as you move from the tree into the bust of Lincoln during his years in Washington, D.C. Adjacent trails are based on one of the penny’s designs of the Capitol Building, which was still under construction during Lincoln’s presidency.
Upon completing the top portion there still are miles of trails that form the shape of the state of Illinois and a silhouette of Lincoln as a Springfield lawyer.
The effort that goes into designing the maze allowed Richardson Farm to clarify what has become the contested title of the “World’s Largest Corn Maze,” George explains.
“There is a debate with the World’s Largest Corn Maze title,” he says. “Last year there was a farm in Georgia that took a very simple design and put it in a huge field. So it’s just one trail around a 46-acre corn field. There’s also another farm in California that uses a nice geometric design in an 80-acre field. That’s why we use the title of World’s Largest and Most Intricately Designed Corn Maze.”
The family started carving intricate designs into its corn field in 2001. Each year the maze grew in size and intricacy, but the maze has been 28 acres for the past two years because the edges of the corn field are meeting the Richardson’s other profitable plant — a variety of pine, fir and spruce Christmas trees.
“At this point we’re at the biggest we can go with the field so we may have to move it to another part of the land or we’d have to go through the Christmas trees, which would send people zig-zagging around,” Ryan says.
A family venture
Richardson Farm has been the family business since Robert and George’s great-grandfather settled the land as a homestead in 1840. Robert and George’s mother Margaret also helps around the farm.
Bringing the business into its fifth generation, George’s 28-year-old son, Ryan, has recently become part of the triangle of management, Robert says.
“George and I figure we only have another 60 years left in us,” he says.
Although the farm remains a family business, the Richardsons want each generation to take time away from the farm before choosing to join the business. Ryan spent a few years in Fort Meyers, Fla., before joining the business. Robert’s daughter, Jean; son-in-law, Jim; and son Andrew help around the farm, but have yet to join the business full-time.
Over the years, the farm has changed in more ways than one.
“When the Richardson family first started it was an ‘Old McDonald’ type of farm, then it was a dairy farm when George and I were growing up, and in the 1980s we changed to a pig farm,” Robert explains.
Robert and George’s father Owen made the move into the Christmas tree farming business, which played a role in the way the business transitioned in the early part of this decade, George explains.
“In 2001, we were hog farmers and we were just losing money on pigs and we knew we had to do something different,” he explains. “We didn’t want to expand our hog farming operation — and you couldn’t in this area. I had read in a farm magazine that farmers were using corn mazes as fundraisers in Iowa and Nebraska and it seemed like an interesting idea.
“We were already in the Christmas tree business so we knew that we liked interacting with people and we knew that people liked coming to the farm,” George continues. “And we’ve found that this is a lot more fun than raising pigs!”
More than just maze
While most people flock to Richardson Farm from Aug. 1 to Nov. 1 to explore the corn maze, the farm re-opens in late November for Cut Your Own Christmas trees. The farm plants different types of fir, spruce and pine trees for customers’ choosing. The trees are organized by two price points, no matter the height and size of the tree you choose, Robert says. As it does with its corn maze, the farm also provides a family friendly experience.
“We organize it so people come in and we take them out on a wagon, get you an saw and you cut down your tree,” Robert says. “Then we bring you back and everyone gets hot cocoa.”
The Cut Your Own Christmas trees will be open every day from Nov. 27 to Dec. 23 from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. The farm also sells fresh, handmade decorated wreaths and garland.
For information and pricing for Richardson Farm’s World’s Largest Corn Maze, visit the farm at 9407 Richardson Road, Spring Grove, call 815-675-9729 or online at www.richardsonfarm.com.
Special events at Richardson Farm
• Oct. 2 and 3 — Maze ‘Til Midnight, celebrating the full moon weekend, the grounds close at midnight, last admission at 10 p.m.
• Oct. 12 — The farm is open on Columbus Day, Monday, Oct. 12 from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
• Oct. 23 and 24 — Costume Nights, everyone in full costume receives $1 off admission (not applicable if receiving a group rate).
• Oct. 31 — On Halloween night, the Spring Grove Fire Department will be lightly haunting the 5 acre maze and all the evening’s profits go to local charities.
Sidebar: How do they do it?
Richardson Farm chooses the theme of its corn maze design in January. This year the theme celebrates Abraham Lincoln’s 200th birthday. In the spring, sterile corn is planted across the 28-acre field north and south and east and west, so there are no visible rows. The use of sterile corn is one of the tricks the Richardson family has learned during the nine years it has operated the corn maze.
“The first couple of years we planted real corn in the maze because we hoped that we could salvage some at the end of the season,” says Robert Richardson, one of the family members who owns and operates the farm. “We ended up with only half of the crop being worthwhile, we had to throw the other half away. The other problem is, you’ll always have some kids who pull the ear off of the corn and throw it. The thing is a half-pound ear of corn is just like a half-pound rock.”
When the corn is 12 to 15-inches tall (usually mid-May to late June) an outsourced firm, Mazeplay, plows through the field using a tractor equipped with a GPS with an image of the field’s design.
“I don’t even know if the driver knows what he’s cutting, all he does is follow the computer and he’s out there from 6 a.m. to 12 a.m. just cutting,” says George Richardson, Robert’s brother and partner in the business. “The GPS uses a satellite image so it doesn’t matter what perspective he’s coming from. For other maze designs you can learn how to cut, but those mazes aren’t nearly as large and intricate as what we do. If we were to cut a design like ours, it would take us weeks to do it ourselves.”
