But it wasn't until 1993 that a producer from Disney World, Don Frantz, decided to adapt the art form to the American agricultural landscape. With help from a British maze designer, Frantz created the "Amazing Maize Maze" on 3.3 acres of farmland in Annville, Pa. Its 2 miles of paths depicted a huge stegosauraus.
The maze, which was featured on CNN and "CBS News Sunday Morning," drew media raves, usually in language terms best called corny. NPR's "All Things Considered" called it a "gold and green amusement park that stands still"; CNN said "survivors come out grinning 'ear to ear.' "
There are now about 1,500 mazes across America, one entrepreneur in the field says. Most are small, privately owned attractions that help farmers maximize profits from the corn harvest. Most include other autumn-themed, family-oriented activities such as farmers' markets, hay rides and apple-bobbing games.
A smaller number, including the one in Gambrills, are part of a newly burgeoning industry. Firms such as Frantz's American Maze Co. of New York, Corn Mazes America of Wisconsin and The MAiZE, based in Utah, take small-scale works of art and lay them out over 10 acres or more.
Recent years have seen portraits of John Wayne, a Lincoln penny, a scene of George Washington crossing the Delaware and a 5-acre chicken play out over hundreds of thousands of square feet.
Navigating
Sharp sunlight slants across a grassy field at Maryland Sunrise Farm one afternoon this week, casting deep shadows where a few dozen cars are parked.
Kids romp in a sort of mosh pit ringed by giant hay bales. Toddlers amble through a miniature maze and play with corn kernels in a trough. Grown-ups looking for a good snapshot lock themselves in a tongue-in-cheek public stockade.
"Rule Breakers Of Sunrise Corn Maze," the sign proclaims.
"We've been wanting to come here for years," says Mary Wallingsford of Davidsonville, who has her two sons, Dylan and Luke, 10 and 5, and her husband, Richard, in tow. "It's so much fun you can lose track of time."
A kiosk near the entrance displays an aerial photograph of this year's maze, which includes a giant cow, a fenced-in barn, a huge tractor, and the name and logo of the Anne Arundel County Department of Parks and Recreation, along with the county's trademark two sailboats.
