A tall order awaits the challengers of Howell Farm’s 2014 corn maze, a three-acre field of 10-foot stalks and double-depth hedgerows.
Inspired by the farm’s recent hosting of the Smithsonian Institution traveling exhibit about the hometown teams that shape our communities, the maze puts a sports twist into the game by making teamwork the key to beating the opponents at hand: time, distance and what maze designers call “cornfusion” — or, the disorientation caused by being surrounded by 120,000 stalks of corn.
The maze features two and a half miles of pathways where 10 puzzle pieces and the answers to 20 sports questions are hidden. When assembled on the maze game board, the pieces form a map of the maze pathways and indicate a way out.
Teams are timed as they work to find the hidden clues, and are penalized for each wrong or missing answer. Teams with the best performances have their names posted on the Maze Master’s scoreboard.
The Howell Farm Corn Maze is set to be open weekends Sept. 13 through Oct. 26. In September, hours of entry are scheduled for 12 to 8 p.m. Saturdays and 12 to 4 p.m. Sundays. Beginning in October, the maze is also open Friday evenings from 5 to 8 p.m. for Moonlight and Starlight Mazes.
Admission is $10 for ages 10 and older, $8 for children ages 5 to 9, and free for children 4 and under.
Howell Living History Farm is a facility of the Mercer County Park Commission. It is located on Valley Road, just off Route 29, two miles south of Lambertville. The maze is located on Valley Road, one mile west of the farm’s historic site.
More information is online at howellfarm.org or mercercountyparks.org.
