Bloomsbury Farm in Atkins readies Al Roker-themed corn maze

ATKINS — Every year, thousands of visitors from Iowa and surrounding states tour the Bloomsbury Farm corn maze near Atkins.

The design changes every year, with this year's maze celebrating the 60th birthday of Today Show weatherman Al Roker. The intricate 10-acre puzzle will open Labor Day weekend and close on Halloween.

While many people think the maze is created by cutting the corn, Karen Petersen, who owns Bloomsbury Farm with her husband, Dave, said herbicide is used to selectively kill plants.

'We work with the Maize Co., which uses a computer program to design the maze,' Petersen said. 'When a tornado hit the farm 10 years ago, we didn't have enough time to create the maze ourselves, and we hired the Maize Co.

'It takes them about four to five hours to mark and kill the corn.'

Petersen said the same area is used each year for the maze. The farm provides the Spanish Fork, Utah, company with the design and it uses a computer program to break the project into 10 sections.

The cornfield becomes a giant grid and Maize employees count rows and mark where to eliminate the corn to create that year's design. They use backpack sprayers filled with Roundup herbicide to kill the corn.

Petersen said the maze needs to be mowed weekly to keep weeds to a minimum and keep it smooth for visitors to explore. She said some corn is hand cut to create paths into the maze.

'At the end of the season, so many people have walked through the maze that the ground becomes like concrete,' Petersen said. 'We need to use a chisel to break it up so we can plant corn again in the spring.'

Petersen said the Maize Co. hosts an agritourism conference and trade show each year. She attends the event to find out what is happening at other agritourism farms across the country.

'Right now, the big thing in the South is wedding barns,' Petersen said. 'We moved a beautiful barn to our property in February. We were going to rush into it, but we decided to step back and do a little more research this winter.

'We want to create something that will be different from what others have done.'

•Link: Corn mazes in Iowa