An eastern Iowa farm family that creates a corn maze every year has put a little different twist on their design this year. The maze in rural Benton County features TV weatherman Al Roker in honor of his 60th birthday today.
Karen Peterson is one of the owners of Bloomsbury Farm in Atkins, and says they started doing a maze 12 years ago as a way to get the public out to the farm. “To you know, enjoy some of the farm senary and get a little taste of the country. And each year we do a different design in our corn maze, it’s ten acres,” Peterson says. “This year we just wanted to send a shout out, a 60th tribute to Al Roker, de does so many good things, and he just looks like a super, super guy.”
They use a company to design the maze for them each year. She says they send the design concept to the company and it takes them one to two hours to make the design. Cutting the design out of corn takes about six hours. They had to get Roker’s permission to make the maze. Peterson says the maze was featured on the NBC today show this morning to kick off Roker’s birthday celebration on the program.
Peterson says visitors can see the maze in a few weeks as they open Labor Day weekend. Peterson says the whole farm opens up for a variety of activities. She says they have people stopping by during the summer to look at the maze. They have a game that goes inside the maze and helps people navigate. You can find out more about the maze and the other fall activities by visiting www.bloomsburyfarm.com.
By Pat Powers, KQWC, Webster City