The Hanes Corn Maze and Tiny Shop Bakery is celebrating its 23rd year of providing the public with an activity suitable for all ages. Located in Dundas, the corn maze twists and turns from September to October.
The farm features a 20-acre maze with 12-foot-tall golden cornstalks that create a human-sized puzzle. Checkpoints containing clues to the current year’s theme are scattered throughout the maze, and when guests are finished they can unscramble the code before spinning to win a prize.
“In the springtime, we’re always pretty excited to see what the design is going to be or how hard it’s going to be,” said the owners’ son (and seventh-generation farmer) Jordie Hanes. “This year can be extremely challenging.”
This attraction wasn’t always as large as it is today. When the Hanes family first started this venture, they began with a five-acre maze carved out with a weed-whacker. These days, they tackle the project with more efficient machinery that allows them to plant and carve out large-scale scenes.
Visitors are often locals as well as folks from out of town who travel to Dundas to experience the new maze every year.
“This is our third year and we’ve solved it every year so far,” said Brantford resident Eric Ward before setting off into the maze. “Hopefully this one goes well too.”
The corn maze isn’t the only attraction. The farm is also home to three escape rooms, as well as plenty of animals. Newborn piglets and their moms, goats, sheep, cows, chickens, turkeys, a donkey and even some puppies can be found near the maze. Some of the animals are available to feed and pet, while others are best just to look at.
Several younger attendees could be seen running around the playground and pumpkin patch, while others were trying out the pumpkin and corn blasters (an air-powered machine) or picking up a goodie from the Tiny Shop Bakery on site.
As a family-owned farm, the owners and workers welcome new and familiar faces.
“People come to us all the time and say, ‘I have grown up [coming] here every fall and it’s a tradition to come for Thanksgiving weekend,’” said Shelly Hanes, manager of the Tiny Shop Bakery and wife of farmer Kevin. “A lot of the families will now come with their grown children, these grown adult kids are [now here] with their kids.”
The Hanes Corn Maze is open daily until the end of October, or if weather permits, the beginning of November. To learn more, visit https://thehanescornmaze.com/
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