With Halloween quickly approaching, there is no better time than the present to relive childhood memories. Throughout Utah Valley, fall nostalgia comes to life in the form of stalks of corn and pumpkin patches.
Popular among families and college students, corn mazes across Utah are a growing business, offering something for all ages. While the unique mazes provide hours of fun for children and adults, several corn mazes also showcase other activities for visitors to enjoy.
Cornbelly’s Corn Maze at Thanksgiving Point, Lehi
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Cornbelly’s chose a space theme as the design for the 2011 corn maze, to honor NASA and the several things NASA is celebrating this year. NASA chose seven farms to help celebrate the 30th anniversary of the first Space Shuttle, the last year of the Space Shuttle program, as well as the 50th anniversary of the first American in space. Cornbelly’s goal in their design was to pay tribute to NASA and feature something that Utahns would be interested in.
Hee Haw Farms, Pleasant Grove
Over at Hee Haw Farms at 150 S. 2000 West in Pleasant Grove, owner Chalise Smith has been running a corn maze for more than 11 years. Smith works with her husband to add Halloween fun to their family-owned farm.
“We ran a corn maze with his dad 12 years ago, and we loved it,” Smith said. “We loved the idea of adding more farm fun, everybody loves to get out on the farm in the fall.”
“We are on an authentic farm,” Smith said. “When you come to the maze you come to the whole farm. My husband is the fifth generation farmer, it’s 151 years old this year. We have such a unique story and history.
UVU Cornmaze, Payson
For the first time this year, Payson and Utah Valley University collaborated to create a corn maze to help entice families to explore what Payson has to offer and provide family fun. The corn maze’s design features UVU’s mascot “Willy the Wolverine.”
Jeri Allphin, the director of Alumni Relations at Utah Valley University, worked this summer and fall to put together five different events to celebrate the connection between UVU and various Utah communities. When Allphin found out about Payson’s first corn maze, she worked with the Payson community to connect it with UVU.
“It’s a great collaboration between the two communities and UVU because a portion of the proceeds from the corn maze are coming back to us for scholarships for students from those communities,” Allphin said.
The corn maze, at 1700 West 800 South in Payson, will be “haunted” on Oct. 29, the weekend before Halloween. Allphin said she believes the corn maze is a great experience for families, teenagers and college students. Above all, the proceeds will help support several groups throughout Utah Valley.
“There are different things going depending on who from the community or from UVU is running the corn maze on certain weeks,” Allphin said. “For instance, the Payson High School cheerleaders have been over there, the Payson Rotary Club, and other groups from the UVU campus. Then all of these different groups get a portion of the proceeds as well. We’re trying to boost fundraising for all of these important groups.”
