Every year, it gets harder for Holly Kimball to come up with fresh ideas for the corn mazes at Beech Hill Farm.
After 20 years, it has become a bit of a tall task to figure out themes that visitors to the ninth generation family farm will not only enjoy, but the Kimball family will be proud of – and pull off. Not once over the last two decades has Kimball repeated a theme (although there have been multiple mazes dedicated to New England sports teams that win championships), so to the casual observer, it probably seems effortless.
“It was down to the wire this year,” Kimball said of the themes. “We were racking our brains for sure.”
As an educator for her entire adult life, Kimball likes to make sure one of the mazes is educational and informative, while the other one is just pure fun. Kimball’s cousin, Tim Chandler, who has been working at the farm on weekends for many years, was talking about raising bees one day and it gave Kimball an idea. Bees are so important, so she figured why not create a maze about bees and come up with some fun questions about hives, pollination and issues that are challenging their survival.
The maze is in the shape of a giant honey bee and is the easier of the two. It’s the one that school groups go through, so the students can have fun and learn at the same time. The other maze this year is Black Beard’s Revenge and is in the shape of a giant pirate ship.
“People like the big mazes, and want a challenge,” Kimball said. “We get all ages coming here to go through them, so that’s why we have two different ones.”
Each person gets a yellow sheet of paper when they attempt to finish the mazes. One side has educational questions about bees and the other has a crossword puzzle for the pirate ship. The answers are scattered throughout the corn, so not only do you have to find your way through, but if you want to say you officially completed it, you have to fill out the entire sheet – even if it means going through a second time. There are no prizes if you do get all the answers, but it’s a good way to pass the time as you wander aimlessly through the corn in search of a way out.
“We’re trying to keep a tradition going here,” Chandler said.
Beech Hill used to do three smaller mazes each year in the eight-plus acre field, but switched to just two larger ones a few years back. You can go slow and take your time if you’re with the youngings or try to see how fast you can find your way out. Just make sure you come out the exit, because it doesn’t count if you come out where you started.
“The kids can run right through it,” Chandler said. “It’s not so big that you’re going to get lost.”
Once Kimball has nailed down her ideas for the year, then the planning phase starts. Using graph paper, they map out what the fields are going to look like – to scale, of course – mark the spots where they need to cut and then spend a few days in the field doing all the hard work. Kimball’s son, Nate (the ninth generation) is the one in charge of cutting the corn and making it just right.
“You have to start before the corn is too tall. You need to be able to see each other in the field,” Chandler said.
It’s about a two-week process beginning in mid-July to make sure they’re ready to open on Aug. 1. The mazes are open daily from 11 a.m. to dusk, and will be through Halloween. Cost is $6 per person and that includes both mazes. Children 3 and under are free.
But once you’ve accomplished the feat of completing both mazes, there’s no need to rush off. Beech Hill is well known for its ice cream barn, which serves more than 75 flavors and has a make your own sundae bar. If you wandered out to the mazes, you will have passed the giant sand pile with lots of toys.
“Once they see the sand pile, you can’t get them past it,” Chandler said. “Now it’s to the point that we never go past a yard sale that has a Tonka truck.”
There are farm animals, like pigs, goats, peacocks, chickens, donkeys and cows. This time of year, you can pick up pumpkins, gourds, corn stalks and mums. You can even have your next birthday party there.
“Slowly, over 20 years, we’ve built it up to this,” Chandler said.
On Oct. 6, Beech Hill hosts its annual Johnny Appleseed Festival, with live music, apple cider pressing, games and stuff of that nature – fun for all ages.
In year’s past, they’ve done mazes for the Olympics, White House pets, the rainforest and the Iditarod Trail – to name a few. As for what’s on tap for next year’s corn mazes? Well, that hasn’t been decided just yet, but let’s hope it has to do with a New England sports team winning another championship.
For more info, visit beechhillfarm.com.