Mazes of maize

By D.A. WILKINSON

wilkinson@vindy.com

COLUMBIANA

Do you like corn?

Do you like solving puzzles? And do you think the disappearance of Farmer Joe was committed with a stick at the haystack by the chickens?

If so, then head over to the

Columbiana Maze Craze, 45107 state Route 14 at state Route 7.

Cindy and Mike Bacon have new additions for the second season of their maze operation.

This year, three new mazes offer a safari theme:

A 0.5-mile maze for the very young shaped like an alligator’s head.

A 2.1-mile trail shaped like a gorilla.

A 2.5-mile maze shaped like the head of a lion and a giraffe — if viewed from above.

Mike said people should walk on the trails that are designated by color. On the maze maps, the alligator trail is green, the gorilla trail is brown and the lion and giraffe trail is red.

Mike said, “The green maze is for little kids. Adults who complete the three segments of the maze will walk 5.1 miles.”

The corn is about 8 feet tall.

“Once you go in, you don’t see anything [else],” he said.

The white on the maze maps designate real corn, but people sometimes will walk through it. Helpers will bring them back to the trail.

“It keeps down the destruction,” Dale said. “The [map] lines are what you are walking on.”

Completing the maze normally takes about 90 minutes. People who do so will have their name entered in a drawing for a $100 gift card.

A new event in the brown maze is a take-off on the popular “CSI” police shows.

“Farmer Joe” is missing. People can get a card with seven weapons, seven locations and seven animal suspects. Participants can get another card punched at stations to eliminate clues and solve the case. The villain will rotated to keep the game fresh.

Shawn Stolworthy of Firth, Idaho, whose company is, “Maze Play,” designed this year’s maze and cut it.

Cindy Bacon, who created the website, said that at least one school planned to visit the maze. New this year are hay rides and “barrel trains” on weekends.

COLUMBIANA MAZE CRAZE

The maze at 45107 state Route 14 will be open through Nov. 7. Days, hours of admission, closing times:

Tuesdays: 5 to 8 p.m. with 10 p.m. closing.

Friday: 5 to 10 p.m., midnight closing.

Saturdays: 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., midnight closing.

Sundays: 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.,

9 p.m. closing.

Admission to all three mazes is $8 for ages 12 and over, $6 for children ages 5 to 11 and seniors 65 and up, and free for those 4 and under and for military personnel. Group rates are available.

For more information, call (330) 482-9904 or visit www.columbianamazecraze.com.