Best Corn Mazes In The Minnesota Area
Adventure parks are popping up every fall throughout Minnesota and the nation as well. Ideal for family fun, corn mazes offer hay rides, real farm animal petting zoos, farm produce, play areas for children and picnic areas in addition to providing an opportunity to enjoy the outdoors by wandering around in a corn maze. Read about these five mazes near the Twin Cities. There are many more throughout the state, and there is likely one very near your residence. Take a look at last year's list too: Best Corn Mazes In Minnesota.
(credit: CBS)
Eveland Family Farm
2575 Andover Blvd.
Andover, MN 55304
(763) 755-5123
www.evelandfamilyfarm.com
For a friendly farm that caters to kids, try Don Eveland's Family Farm. The maze is ideal for kindergarten through second grade. The animals are well cared for and very approachable. Kids should like the donkeys, miniature horses, pot bellied pigs, llamas, goats, sheep, alpacas and peacocks. Take a short hayride and shop at the small outdoor store where you can buy pumpkins, squash or gourds. Choose from Acorn, Buttercup, Butternut, Delicata, Festival, Peanut, Spaghetti and Turk's Turbine for 30 cents per pound. Pumpkin varieties include Cinderella, Jack O' Lantern, Jarradale, Long Island Cheese, Luma Whitewith, "Red Warty Things" or delicious Pie Pumpkins. Relax at the pleasant little eating area with hot dogs and snacks provided by Andover's Boy Scout Troop 609.
Waldoch Farm Garden Center
8174 Lake Drive
Lino Lakes, MN 55014
(651) 780-1207
www.waldochfarm.com
Family members of all ages will have fun at Waldoch. Youngsters might tire after wandering the first phase, a shorter route taking about 20 minutes. Teens will likely choose to roam the rest of the labyrinth for more than an hour in search of the exit. Youngsters will still find plenty to do at this fun place presented by the Waldoch family every year. They can try the sand box, the large corn box, the spider web, mini maze, pedal trikes, youth pedal carts, hay jumping and see all of the chickens, ducks, peacocks, sheep, donkeys and horses in the barnyard. Teens and adults might enjoy trying the large pedal carts and the hay ride to the pumpkin patch where you can pick your own. Stay for a while and relax at the picnic tables and food truck provided on site.
(credit: CBS)
Applewood Orchard
22702 Hamburg Ave.
Lakeville, MN 55044
(952) 985-5425
www.applewoodorchard.com
Pick your own from 12 varieties of apples on dwarf trees or get your fall pumpkins and raspberries while the kids wander the mazes. Toddlers like the permanent hedge maze while teens will thrill with the 10-acre corn maze in the form of a T-Rex dinosaur this year. Hayrides around the orchard are offered weekends for just a buck. Apple pickers can find their favorite variety at $1.95 per pound or $2.75 for premier varieties. Owner Kathy Parranto offers weekday group tours to schools, senior centers and professional groups.
Minnesota Harvest Apple Orchard
8251 Old Highway 169 Blvd.
Jordan, MN 55352
(952) 492-2785
www.minnesotaharvest.net
There is plenty of activity at the apple orchard in Jordan this year. Owners Susan Sponsel and Kevin Berggemann planted sunflowers for their maze instead of corn this year. Come for the usual petting zoo with all of the farm animals. Enjoy the picnic area and furnished restrooms. Sort through the pumpkins and produce already gathered from the field. Then take a tractor-pulled wagon ride out to the apple orchard and sunflower maze.
(credit: CBS)
Zywiec's Landscape and Garden Center
10900 E. Point Douglas Road
Cottage Grove, MN 55016
(651) 459-3001
www.zywiecs.com
Bill Zywiec has converted his peaceful gardens to high adventure every fall for the last 25 years. Come for the corn maze during the day and stay for the Haunting Experience at night. Little kids can experience a low-scare version during the day, "where people don't jump out at you," explains Zywiec's manager Leah. "Young kids like that." Parents enjoy picking up their fall decorations like mums, pumpkins, gourds, cornstalks and straw and spend time looking at all of the nice gift items in the store.
Robin Johnson was born in Annandale, Minn. and graduated from Richfield High School and then the University of Minnesota where he studied Political Science, Business and Industrial Relations. A writer for Examiner.com, he also consults with a variety of organizations and individuals helping them develop and grow. His work can be found at Examiner.com.
