Candidates square off in annual corn maze

Janesville Gazette ^ | September 15, 2004 | Chris Schultz

[Chummy]

Candidates square off in annual corn maze

(Published Wednesday, September 15, 2004 10:52:35 AM CDT)

By Chris Schultz/Gazette Staff

Fairwyn Farms, on Highway 50 in Burlington created an election-year corn maze featuring Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry and President George W. Bush. The third annual maze opened Aug. 21 and runs through the end of October. The previous two mazes had a Green Bay Packers/Chicago Bears theme, and farm manager Eric Craig said he wanted to keep the idea of rivalry this year. Associated Press

LAKE GENEVA-Find the presidential elections confusing?

Don't know where to turn?

There's a place for you.

Fairwyn Farms, located six miles east of Lake Geneva on Highway 50, is offering its third annual corn maze. And this year's theme, in keeping with the presidential election year, is Bush vs. Kerry.

The maze in the maize features Bush riding a rampaging Republican elephant and Kerry astride a doughty Democratic donkey. Eric Craig, manager at Fairwyn Farms, thought up the election-year theme.

Craig said he wanted to keep the rivalry theme, which has been the focus of the previous two mazes. The 2002 maze featured opposing Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears helmets. Last year, a tribute to the renovated and rebuilt Lambeau and Soldier fields was presented.

The Bush and Kerry figures cover 20 acres and are connected. Visitors can go through either the Bush maze or the Kerry maze-or both.

Be warned, however, that each maze has about 2.5 miles of paths. Without making a misstep, each maze can be negotiated in about 20 minutes. But add a wrong turn or two, and it might take 45 minutes to an hour to negotiate each, Craig said.

Fortunately there are bridges leading out at the halfway point in each labyrinth, so tired maze runners can work out an early exit strategy.

There are also hints along the way. At marked stops, maze runners can answer a trivia question about American history, or a question from any of up to 10 other categories, to get a direction of either left or right. A wrong answer leads to a dead end.

Eric and his wife, Jill, do much of the work on the maze early in the season, running the concession stand and keeping an eye on maze runners. When the season picks up in late September and early October, there will be up to 21 employees making sure the site runs smoothly, Eric said.

The maze business belongs to the Craigs, and they have permission to create the maze on farmland owned by Fairwyn Farms, a family-owned company.

The maze itself was created by Brett Herbst of Utah, whose company, The MAiZE, also cut the two previous mazes at Fairwyn.

Although the Craigs didn't have exact numbers immediately available, they said that the Bush maze is about 30 percent more popular than the Kerry maze.

A visit to the farm near opening time brought a warning from Eric Craig that things might be a bit slow. After three years of operating corn mazes, Craig said that attendance really doesn't pick up until mid-September and then roars through the closing date on Oct. 31.

However, within two hours, two family groups had already come through. Sean and Karen Rice of Chicago and their two young sons, Jack, 3, and Ryan, 2, were the first to show.

The two boys were excited about trying the maze.

"They've been talking about this all day," Karen said.

She said the family stopped by the farm at 11 a.m. only to discover that it didn't open until 4 p.m.

The Rices, who live in Chicago, own a house in the Twin Lakes area of Kenosha County, Sean said. He said they had driven by the farm many times when the mazes were open, but this was the first time they'd stopped.

About 30 minutes after the Rices disappeared into the Bush side of the maze, Mary Johnson and her daughter, Katie, 24, of Lake Geneva, showed up and asked to go through the Kerry side.

"It's political preference," Mary said.

About an hour after they entered the maze, the Rices and their two sons were seen leaving. Sean and Karen said they made it halfway through the maze, which is pretty good for having two little guys in tow.

Ryan waved goodbye while mom carried him to the car. Along the way he began chanting, "Bush, Bush."

Of course, Ryan's too young to vote.

[Chummy]

Folks just have to be really careful where they step in the Kerry portion of the field -- it's probably full of Cow-Rathers.

[southernnorthcarolina]

If this were in England, it would be called a maize maze.

[mikrofon]

Amaizing maze, how sweet's the corn...

[afraidfortherepublic]

I just love it! Only in Wisconsin...

[afraidfortherepublic]

I just love it! Only in Wisconsin...

[callthemlikeyouseethem]

I love the packages available...:)

There are special entrance fee packages with names in keeping with the election year theme.

-- Lame Duck package: choice of either maze and three activity tickets for $8 per adult and $6 per child age 5-12.

-- Hanging Chad package: choice of either maze and five activity tickets for $10 per adult and $8 per child age 5-12.

-- Filibuster package: both mazes and five activity tickets for $12 per adult and $9 per child age 5-12.