By Manya Kaczkowski

Lose yourself in Wisconsin’s corn mazes! These leafy labyrinths are loads of fun:

Schopf Hilltop Dairy
Carlsville
Hilltop Dairy is home to the famously popular Cookie the Cow so it's no surprise in this election year that the theme for the 2012 Corn Maze at Hilltop is "Cookie For President!" In addition to all that corny fun, you can check out—and milk—high-tech Cookie the Cow, cuddle a few farm animals and frolic in the dairy playland. On September 8, 2012, Hilltop's annual Corn Festival will benefit the Sunshine House Inc, a non-profit organization serving the needs of the developmentally disabled.

Meuer Farm
Chilton
You can decide if you want it scary or simply a-maze-ing; there’s a 10-acre labyrinth without the haunted factor and a separate one that’s creepy to the max. Rev up your chill factor with indoor Halloween movies, then arm yourself with 12-hour glowstick (to keep), and test your luck in the haunted maze. Corn cops are available, should you get lost…BAAAHAAHAAHAA! Outside of the maze, it’s fall fun at its best, with duck races, corn cannon, water balloon sling shot, an 80-foot tube slide and hayrides.

Schuster's Playtime Farm
Deerfield
Schusters is a child’s paradise: with potbellied piglets, pygmy goats and cuddly bunnies, you might have to pull the little ones away to do the maze. But older kids will love the challenges of lost and found games throughout the labyrinth, and the Haunted Forest, too. The 2012 maze theme reflects the farm's charity partner for the season, The Ronald McDonald House Charities of Madison. Don’t forget to pick up some goodies from Sarah’s Sweet Shoppe and Bakery on your way home.

Glacier Rock Farms
Lebanon
Seriously, have you ever pet a chinchilla? You can, on the shores of the Rock River at Glacier Rock Farms, as well as stroke a hedgehog, kiss a llama and interact with the other 40 animals at the farm. Also, you can pan for gems and fossils at the River Rock Mining Company. But the real draw here is the 2012 corn maze, It's A Jungle out There!  If you're brave enough to venture out into this leafy world of dangerous tropical beasts, beware the hissing snake and the giant footed elephant.

Treinen Farm
Lodi
It’s certainly not Mapquest: You get a map, but most of it’s missing. With 15 acres of twisty-turny paths through mile-high stalks of corn, there’s nothing to do but take a huge bite out of your caramel apple and work with your team to find the secret locations that will gain you prizes along the way through this gigantic maze—the largest in Wisconsin. The 2012 technology themed maze is a multi layered cyborg tribute to Leonardo da Vinci complete with complex gears.  Meanwhile, draft horses pull patrons through the fields to the pumpkin patch, kids catapult pumpkins over the pond and play in the corncrib funhouse, and small fry collect eggs from stuffed chickens and nuzzle the bunnies.

Keep Wisconsin Warm/Cool Fund
Madison
What’s tall and green and full of a-maize-ing power? No, it’s not the Incredible Hulk; it’s the 8-acre urban corn maze, right in the middle of Madison, designed to keep the heat and electricity on for families across Wisconsin that are experiencing budget crises. Along with the maze, there’s face painting, a petting zoo, crafting and more. Best feature? 95% of the profits go toward keeping families warm...and that’s cool.

Govin’s Meat & Berries
Menomonie
It’s 10 acres of very scary fun. You can try to use your cell phone to receive text clues and win prizes, but after dark, well, let’s just say Happy Hunting! The Govins claim no one’s been permanently lost in the maze, but you’ll just have to see for yourself. The 2012 theme is "Walk To End Alzheimer's" with half of maze admissions going to the Alzheimer's Association. There’s also plenty for smaller kids to do: duck races, pony hops, a corn box and more.

Borzynski's
Sturtevant
If there were no maze here, you’d still want to visit, just for the European Market. You can find Wisconsin’s best—more than 200 made-in-the-state goodies, plus more than 400 cheeses, a floral shop and garden center, and a brand-new café with sandwiches and baked goods. Oh, and did we mention that there’s a corn maze? The 8-acre maze for 2012 is all about good old Robin Hood!

Willow Springs Garden
Wausau
Think picturesque, historic round barn, a pumpkin patch and a campfire…now picture ghouls gathering behind the cornstalks. The 2012 corn maze is called "Remembering Titanic....100 years!" For the faint of heart—and the little ones—there’s another, not-so-scary, trick-or-treat maze, where the ghouls hand out candy. Other farm activities include hay rides, cheese tours and scarecrow-making.

Hidden Trails Corn Maze
West Salem
This is a huge set of mazes—13 acres in all, with two for bigger kids and adults and one for the preschooler set. The last two weeks of October, you can take to the haunted trail…if you dare. Meanwhile, this organic dairy farm offers lots of hands-on animal magnetism: chickens, pigs, sheep and goats. A market offers pumpkins, gourds and straw bales, and kids can ride on the barrel train or the covered wagon, which travel up a hill so you can get a look at the maze from the top. This fall the main maze is definitely not for anyone with arachnophobia :  A-Maze-ing Spiderman!

This entry was posted in Things to Do, Tours, Entertainment and Attractions and tagged Features and Profiles