ANDREW LIMBONG, HOST:
There's a farm in Maine where if you step foot there, they're going to tell you to get lost but in a good way.
JONATHAN KENERSON: We want corn that's going to be 10 to 11 feet tall. So when you're in there, it looks like a complete wall of corn 'cause it's not really much of a maze if you can see over the top.
LIMBONG: Jonathan Kenerson of Treworgy Family Orchards has been curating his maize - get it, like corn? - into a maze for decades.
KENERSON: I grew up here, and so I was around when the first maze was made. My father-in-law and his brother heard about corn mazes and said, I think we can figure out how to do this. So they got some string and some paint and some tape measures, and they laid it all out and made it happen.
LIMBONG: They are five-time corn maze champions, and they continue to curate their maze routes through the cornfield by hand.
KENERSON: As the corn starts coming up, we just - where we've drawn lines, we drag with a lawn tractor and uproot the corn, and that becomes the trails.
LIMBONG: Planting, tilling and designing the 5-acre ground puzzle used to take weeks to complete.
KENERSON: Now, 25 years later, where we can do it in a day, so we've gotten a little - we've improved the process a little. But it's still all done by hand. We do it ourselves. We lay it out with old-fashioned surveying equipment and string and spray paint. There's no GPS and no advanced technology on our farm to do this.
LIMBONG: If your sense of direction is absolutely cooked thanks to an overreliance on Google maps, do not worry. Kenerson says participants are briefed and well-equipped.
KENERSON: We hand people a map and we say, try to go find the six stations. Really, it's about a good time, having fun. We've got an observation tower that gets you up over the maze so you can see out and see where the different stations are. So the strategy is, have a good time. Try not to lose your friends but have fun getting lost 'cause the worst that happens is if you get lost, you're still on a farm in a great place.
LIMBONG: And if you do get lost, have some faith in yourself. The maze is designed for you to find your way through.
KENERSON: No one wants to be stuck in a field for three hours. So we target it - it's about 5 acres large. We target it to be about 30 to 60 minutes to get through. Most people make it through in about 30 to 45 minutes. But we tried to make it, you know, not so difficult that it doesn't stay fun. We want it to continue to be fun.
LIMBONG: There's something else about the corn maze, too, that you can't actually tell from being in it. Kenerson believes that part of the reason why voters have consistently chosen Treworgy Family Orchards as the country's best maze is because if you zoomed out and looked at the maze from above, you'd find that the maze is in the shape of a whale.
KENERSON: I have never seen another corn maze that does their design the way we do. Instead of just seeing a square of corn with some lines inside, the actual field is the image, and it really pops. And I think it really makes it a spectacular maze, and I think that's what sets us apart and why people really want to support us for this first-place win.
LIMBONG: Our congrats to Treworgy Family Orchards for yet another win.
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