As the rows of corn growing on the 10-acre plot of land behind the high school football field in Randolph, Wis., grew taller, members of the Randolph Cambria-Friesland FFA Chapter got more excited to open their first corn maze.
“It was our first time and it was a ton of fun,” says Lauren Freel, Randolph Cambria-Friesland FFA advisor.
It was also a ton of work.
Kurt Williams, an FFA alumni member and the local Jung’s Seed Genetics dealer, donated seeds and planting time, while FFA members tackled tasks from designing the maze and weeding the rows to selling tickets and leading students through the twisting, turning paths from start to finish.
FFA member Payton Welch, 16, used Climate FieldView to plot the design, which read “RCF” (Randolph Cambria-Friesland) at the top and “FFA” at the bottom with a maze in the middle. Welch shared the design with Williams who connected it to his tractor GPS and planted the corn in April.
“Once the corn grew waist high, a couple members started walking the rows with a map to make sure the roads matched up to the map,” Freel recalls.
Piper Alsum, 16, was one of the FFA members who walked (and weeded) the rows.
“I thought it’d be a great way to show off what FFA could do with a fun activity that got everybody involved,” Alsum says.
The corn maze was open after all home football games in September and October, and the chapter hosted a haunted corn maze in October. Getting lost was one of the best parts of navigating the maze.
When visitors reached a dead end, signs with multiple choice agriculture and FFA trivia questions led visitors through the maze. The arrow under the correct answer led in the right direction while the arrow under the wrong answer led to another dead end.
Outside the maze, FFA members sold products from their SAEs, such as honey and maple syrup. The inaugural corn maze raised $1,000 and plans are underway to make the 2023 corn maze bigger and better.
“I’d like to help design it again and make it a little more complicated and harder to get through,” says Welch.
A representative from The Climate Corp. is going to show students how to use FieldView, and students in the school’s farm and business management class are eager to start brainstorming ideas. Freel hopes to get more students involved in selling products from their SAE projects, adding, “Now that we know that it’s successful and it really draws people in, we really want to grow it.”
