As Mike Shryock walked past the Shryock family's 16-acre corn maze, his shoes got muddier with each step. The Shryocks Callaway Farms corn maze was set to open Friday, but an increase in rain the past couple weeks has made the ground too muddy, and it remains closed today. The family hopes the ground will firm up and allow the maze to open soon.
"It's been a nice growing season, corn looks good," Shryock said. "If we can just get the mud to dry out, we'll be good to go."
This is the 13th year for the Shryocks' Maze. Shryock said they see a lot of families come through. When he was a child, Shryock said he used to run through the farm's corn fields. He enjoys seeing some of the same families and children come back year after year.
"Deep down, I would have loved to have something like this as a kid," Shryock said. " (This maze is) something I wished I could have gone to when I was little."
Shryocks Callaway Farms plants the corn for the maze late in the growing season, just before July 1. They plant late, Shryock said, so the corn stays green as long as it can into the fall. Shryock said the farm's irrigation system helps keep the corn looking good, too. Once the corn is a couple feet high, the Shryock family mows and trims the corn field into the shape of that year's design. As the corn continues to grow taller, they keep it trimmed.
For all of those 13 years, Mike Shryock has designed the maze. This year, the maze design includes an Allis-Chalmers brand tractor, modeled after the same tractor the farm uses for its hayrides.
"We thought it would be neat to have a picture of the tractor (as the design)," Shryock said.
He said his grandfather used the tractor on the farm. When the tractor got older, the family retired it from farm use and started using it for hayrides.
The family hopes to add a new element to the maze this season. They have been working on renovating a building near the maze on their farm. The building will have a corn pit or corn sand box for kids to play in as well as hands on agriculture-related activities for kids. They hope to have it open before the end of the season.
Tickets for the maze are $8 for adults, $7 for children between 5-12 and admission is free for children four years old and younger. Once the mud dries up, the maze will be open 4-9 p.m. Fridays, 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Saturdays and 2-6 p.m. Sundays. The Shryock family will post when they plan to open for the season on their website, callawayfarms.com, and Facebook page.