Something’s fishy in Meridian:

The Maize in Meridian, which opened Sept. 15, is a cornfield unlike any other. Its cornstalks stand over 10-feet tall. Its swath stretches more than 10 acres. From the sky, the field takes the shape of an enormous trout, jumping for a fly with mountains set behind it.

In its 10th year and with a new location and new owners, the Maize corporation hopes to entertain thousands.

Operating out of Utah, the Maize organization hails as the world’s largest corn maze company. It owns mazes located in almost every state and in various foreign countries, which include: Mexico, Italy, Canada, the United Kingdom and Portugal. According to the company’s website, the 10 years of operation include more than 1,000 mazes and a Guinness record. The new line of “agritainment” currently operates more than 180 mazes.

Besides offering guests hours of entertainment through corn-covered pathways, the site offers something for the entire family, especially those with youngsters. Other activities include the corn cannon, animal alley, pedal carts, bucking cow train, roller and tube slides, greased pig chases, duck races, picnic areas, hayrides and a pumpkin patch.

This year’s owners of the Maize, Jim and Hillary Lowe, along with their daughter Brooklyn, moved the Maize from its original location next to Edward’s 21 to its new crop off of Meridian road, south off exit 44.

Before moving to Boise, the Lowe family operated mazes in Layton, Utah, and Colorado Springs. They spent two years in each location. The couple met while attending school at Utah State, where Jim roomed with the creator of the Maize, which reshaped his entire life and the way he looks at agriculture. Jim discussed how exciting it is to work with agriculture in a new light and how everyone can find an appreciation for this developing form of entertainment.

“Everyone’s connected to the farm in some way, whether you had an ancestor or someone directly related to you, most worked on a farm at one time,” Jim Lowe said. “We all have that link and want to enjoy it again, even if it’s not the farm it once was.”

However, Lowe is right about the farm being quite different than it has been, especially when understanding what it takes to create a corn maze of this magnitude.

Developers and creative artists work together to design a maze that will work efficiently with the public. This portion of the process can take a few days with advance skill, while a first-timer may take up to several weeks to finalize plans.

Jim Lowe designed this year’s maze after driving behind a car with the famous Idaho trout on the license plate.

“Our plans at first where to do the Idaho state quarter but they wouldn’t release information to us on what it is going to look like,” Hillary Lowe said. “But when we saw the license plate we knew it’d be a great idea.”

In the past, the couple worked on mazes in the shape of President Reagan’s face and other famous people such as Larry King, with suspenders and all.

Once a blueprint of the maze reaches completion, the next step to creating this seasonal entertainment is finding the perfect location. Many times certain fields end up being unable to accommodate a maze because of the field’s size and surrounding factors.

“One time we drew out the plans for a certain field and found out later the location was actually 10 feet smaller,” Jim Lowe said.

He discussed the difficulties of his line of work and how often times things do change and alterations occur, whether it means taking out a few pathways, or redesigning an entire section.

This year’s maze moved from its original spot after city developers brought the land to build businesses; this occurrence is the number one threat to the corn maze

industry, the same fatal conclusion many regular farmers deal with everyday as commercialism spreads across rural areas.

“It’s rough to see fields taken over by businesses,” Jim Lowe said. “I guess businesses are more important than corn mazes in the end.”

However, while the future does look gloomy for those passionate about corn mazes, “Agritainment” seems to be growing in popularity, with more families taking part in the festivities each year and new mazes popping up across the globe.

This year’s maze plans to run through Halloween, and hours of operation vary according to day.

Once the maze finishes out this season’s run, the Lowe family plans to harvest the field for animal feed for local farms.

Daniel Kedish

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