DREW LINGINFELTE
Senior Reporter
Have you ever wondered how a rat in a maze feels? Now you can know.
A BYU graduate and a University of Utah student put their efforts together to bring to Utah County a maze large enough for people to get lost in.
The Maze, a 3-acre field of corn in American Fork, opens tonight to the public.
The human maze challenges participants to find their way through the path that varies in length, depending on which turns are taken, from three quarters of a mile to more than two miles.
There is only one way in and one way out.
The maze takes most people about an hour to get through, the owners said. If participants make all the right turns, they will complete the maze in about 15 minutes.
The owners, Brett Herbst, a recent graduate of BYU’s agri-business program, and Jim Martin, a computer science student at the University of Utah, came up with the idea after reading about a similar cornfield maze created in Shippensburg, Pa., last year.
“After seeing the success of the maze in Pennsylvania, we figured it would be great to re-create the same thing here in Utah,” Herbst said.
“Our maze is comparable in size and will give people something different and challenging to do for fun,” he said.
“I helped design it and I’ve been walking through it regularly, but I still have a hard time finding my way out,” Martin said.
Martin said he used a computer to help design the maze. “We had to consider different angles and different times it would take to walk through, and the computer helped us make changes easier.”
After getting the design on paper, they transposed it to a grid system matching the layout of the cornfield. They then used a weed trimmer with a saw blade attached to cut the corn stalks one at a time to make the paths of the maze.
The maze is not lighted after dark, but the owners say it is more fun in the dark.
“People usually bring flashlights, but they don’t use them after their eyes adjust. It gives it a more spooky feeling,” Herbst said.
Herbst and Martin lease the field from a local owner. Herbst said they looked for a field with a good location and easy access from the freeway.
Last weekend about 400 people previewed the maze, and Herbst and Martin said feedback was great.
“People just like mazes,” Herbst said. “They buy them for the personal challenge. This maze lets people get more involved.”
The Maze, near 650 East on 1100 South in American Fork, will run Sept. 20 through Oct. 19.
Melinda Beal/Daily Universe
CHILDREN IN THE CORN: Two entrepreneurs made this American Fork cornfield into a human maze. They say participants can find their way out in 15 minutes if they make the correct turns.
