I have hesitated to publish too much about our move except it is and has happened. The property where our corn maze attraction has lived for the past seventeen seasons was sold and we lost our lease. We knew this was a possibility but after so long, 40 years total, you have a tendency to become complacent. We would talk about it once in awhile wondering where we could move to? We couldn’t move it to the home ranch for several reasons mainly access. We knew there was no way we could get the traffic down either one of the “country” roads leading to our place nor would the county give us permission. A couple of years ago a piece of property came up for sale that we had been farming and the owners offered it to us first. We weren’t really comfortable buying 20 acres of land but needed it and it adjoined our home ranch. I had a hard time seeing it but Dick would say “this is where we can move the corn maze to if we ever have to”. It wasn’t until we got the news we had to move and I stood in the middle of this new property we had purchased I began to see how it could work. We are located off the frontage road that parallels highway 156 which connects the valley and the coast and there is a traffic light! We have visibility and access. Yes! But how am I going to layout everything and make it work?
One of the biggest obstacles was three acres of hoop houses, similar to hot houses, that we had just put in which ran right down the middle of the property. It was like having to deal with a brick wall as an obstacle. But mother nature took care of problem for us. This past winter the winds and rains were so bad they totally destroyed the hoop houses. It cleared the field of any obstacles but left us nowhere to plant our early tomatoes robbing us of an entire crop and an important source of income.
We thought if we had to move we would build a barn to house all the little buildings we had at the old location. Wouldn’t it be niece to have the snack shack, fudge shop, store, office, employee lounge and bathrooms all under one roof? We started the the permit process in February thinking this wasn’t going to be a big deal, but it was…. Terminology and interpretation are key and unfortunately our snack shack became a restaurant and our barn became an event center. STOP! We just wanted a nice place for our customers and to be able to host weddings and farm to table dinners. We finally have a nice location, property we own and we just want to make a living off of what we would like to build.
Currently we have no barn but are getting our temporary use permit to open. What does that mean? We get to start moving the old buildings into place, putting up fences and building new pens for our goats, chickens and ducks. The funny thing is I never bought any ducks but we have three different types and they are multiplying? And they are nocturnal as my son points out since their home is his backyard since the move. It’s a lot of work and we may not get all the things done we hoped to but this is what you can expect as of today August 12th.
I hope the move and new location brings you out to our corn maze opening Sept. 29th through Oct. 31st. I will keep you posted on our progress.
WHAT’S NEW!
We are going to have two jumping pillows! One for younger children and cautious parents and one for older kids and adults.
Giant double inflatable slide
All inclusive ticket price. No more trying to decide what you want to do or which package to buy. Buy your ticket and go have fun! There will be an extra charge if you choose to use the sling shot and corn cannon multiple times. Nighttime haunt admission will be an up-charge.
Our haunted “Terror in the Corn” will no longer located in the corn field although there will still be corn. We have an area on the home ranch that has trees, an orchard, corn and is very creepy at night….
Our pumpkin patch will be open to the public, no admission required. I hope to have the mining sluice, mining for gemstones and fossils, in both the pumpkin patch and inside the “park”. Bags of gemstones and fossils will be available for purchase.
My plans are to have more educational things like “Chickens 101” a garden and a bee hive and an educational center but time is short and some of these things may have to wait. I know the educational center will because I was going to use the old store building to house it but it will have to be used for other things this year.
Hope to see you this fall!
