Discussion: It's Corn Maze time again

The corn is head high, the maze has been cut, Mother Nature allowing we are good to go on Saturday, September 5. All the info is here. There is a new designer this year so the style is different, but it looks like it will be excellent for orienteering.

Pre-registration only, there will be a limit on entries, as yet undetermined. Cost is $20 per person payable on the day (half goes to Mike, some to OUSA, some for maps, a little to WCOC). To enter, e-mail the following to pg@crocker.com:

Name
Club
SI number
Age

Saw this yesterday from BoingBoing: http://boingboing.net/2015/07/23/corn-maze-season....

Can't wait! I've been studying other maze construction to get ready.

cedarcreek beat me to it!

What's interesting about the maze that CascadeOC uses, is that the farmer plants the corn in the shape of the maze and doesn't cut anything.

Seems like the Trail-O has been upgraded.

List of entries received so far is here.

Different style maze this year but it looks like it will work real fine. Two weeks to go.

A map of the maze has been posted on their Facebook page:

Magnificent! Though also very, very fast. I wish they had used more of the dead space around the keyhole.

And the title is Alice in Sunderland.

A different style from what we've had before but lots of possibilities. I already have a couple of surprises in mind.

Question -- how many hours will Ian spend over the next 10 days planning the best route between every possible pair of points? Will he have time for any training at all?

Updated entry list is here, as usual.

not enough hours Peter. I predict an upset.

No breaks in the perimeter could make for very fast running options around. Unless someone were to put in some man made barriers like some of the urban sprints...

Mr. Clint, a man wise beyond his years....

RMOC's meet will take place in October at Anderson Farms:

I see some long legs with lots of route choice or just lots of trying to make sure you don't get lost!

CascadeOC is going at Bob's Corn again on September 19th, with an ISSOM version of this:



Bob goes old school and designs the maze on graph paper and then stakes the grid into the field for precise cutting. I think it would be fun to have a more elaborate design, but I find the one we use endearing. We like going there, and they like having us.

We like going there, and they like having us.

Exactly the sentiment I get at Mike's. :-)

And here in "Corn Country" we have the world's largest corn maze:



And our event will be October 18. But thankfully "all non-course aisles will be blocked off"

Ummm... That's a trail race in a corn maze.
Where's the O?

Some very healthy corn this year --

....Where's the O?...

Well I guess there are several ways you can enjoy a Corn Maze. And here we are not fortunate enough to have a skilled orienteer to put on a Corn Maze O Event. But we can still find a bit of challenge nevertheless.

Just looking at this year's 5k Corn Maze course, you'd have to admit your head would be spinning just navigating those advertised 250 turns at race pace!

This event costs nearly $40, for only one race. By comparison the Sunderland event is just half that, and for multiple events, including two Trail-Os!

A reminder that entry deadline is Wednesday (Sept. 2). The limit is 50. We're now at 43 so it should be about right.

As usual, all the info is here.

@chi: Actually just one Trail-O with two mutually exclusive classes; basically Drone and No Drone... ;-D

The top results over the past years for that 5K seem quite impressive, considering that you can never get up any speed because of all the turns. Those folks have my respect.

And thanks to Cristina, taking a break from her mom duties, the web page has been updated! :-)

Hmm, seem to be over the limit, but the excuses so far have been excellent. :-)

As usual, all the info is here.

The phrase for this year, with reference to corn maze trail O', is "double or nothing". Perfect as last year's event was, things can always be improved.

Meet info and start list for the Classic is here.

The forecast is for little to no wind, ideal for drone flying...

This aerial photograph might help with any last minute race prep:

MNOC's Corn Maze-O event this year is Sunday, October 11. The maze design this year is in honor of firefighters:

Another Corn Maze Champs is in the books. Splits for the Classic and Sprint are linked here. Night splits are posted, though they don't really indicate the order of finish, see the note at the beginning.

Trail O and night O results coming.

Overall there was a tie for first between Joe Brautigam and Ben Gallup.

Maps also coming.

Thanks to Joe, Ben, Ian, and Keith for collecting all the controla. And to Pavi for helping to clean up around the pavillion. A good event. And I am tired.... :-)

Thank you very much, Peter, for such a great event! It was a lot of fun!

Yes, thanks again to you Peter, and your able assistants. We had a great time as always.

I think I only noticed one plaid shirt, but the party atmosphere held anyway.

Trail O' results:

Controls were balloons floating above the maze -- you had to mark on a map where the controls were tied to, viewing only from outside the maze. There were four controls scored as 10 points for getting the location exactly correct (really hard!), or 5 points for getting within 1 cm on the map of the exact location, or 2 points for getting within 2 cm. And then there was an optional 5th control, double-or nothing, sort of, double your score if you got it right, add 50% to your score if within 1 cm, add 25% if within 2cm, and wipe out your score if more than 2 cm.

Most chose to go for double-or-nothing, and it helped most folks, though there were 6 wipe-outs. :-)

1. Giovanni Berlanda 45
2. Joe Brautigam 37.5
3. Keith Durand 34
4. Pavlina Brautigam 30
5. Roine Andersson 28.5
5. Evalin Brautigam 28.5
7. Ben Gallup
8. Gail Richardson 27.5
8. Phil Bricker 27.5
10. Steve Richardson 25.5
11. Guy Olson 24
12. Dean Studevant 21
12. Andis Vitolins 21
12. Glen Tryson 21
15. Brad Harkavy 19
16. George Walker 18
16. Rick DeWitt 18
16. Kseniya Popova 18
16. Greg Lewis 18
16. Janet Tryson 18
21. Gail Gagarin 17.5
22. Ian Smith 16.5
23. JJ Cote 13.5
24. Barb Bryant 12
25. Michael Laraia
26. Peter Goodwin 9
27. Susie DeWitt 8.75
27. Anne-Marie Mador 8.75
29. Jeremy Colgan 7.5
30. Earl Lavallee 7
31. Ken Walker Sr 7
32. Jeff Saeger and Judy Karpinski 6
32. Dave Yee 6
34. Patrick McNeal 5
35. Merrick Lavallee 4
35. Charlie DeWeese 4
37. Keegan Harkavy 3
38. Isak Prellner 0
38. Nadia Popova 0
38. Greg Balter 0
38. Rachel Harkavy 0
38. Katia Bertoldi 0
38. Harlan Altepeter

As usual, and as expected in corn maze trail O', no protests or complaints. :-)

There was a special "Cool" class for those taking advantage of more modern gadgets, but there were only 3 legitimate entries and there were all, well, far from the expected success.

Peter Goodwin tried out a fancy range finder, but that only netted 9 points and 26th place.

JJ Cote bought out most of the balloon supply in Lunenburg, the idea being to float a camera over the maze, but first it seems like the camera was too heavy and wasn't getting airborne (or maybe not enough wind to float over the maze?), and then the balloons were seen escaping en masse to who knows where.

And, the one with the most expectations, Ben Gallup had brought a drone with a video camera hooked on transmitting back to his laptop. You would have thought 80 points would have been a slam-dunk, but technology being what it is, there were issues. Or maybe it was operator failure? He did manage 7th place, but it's not clear the drone had anything to do with it, other than use up a bunch of time and entertain everyone else.

So the Cools being quite the disappointment, the class was merged with the Luddites and thus the consolidated results above.

Night O' results:

A perfect evening for night O', though of course one could argue that any evening is a perfect evening for night O'. Especially in a corn maze.

There were 26 controls (all the ones used in the day events). The fences had been removed. Score-O' format, a point for each control. Plus a bonus point for each control you went to that was higher in the "sequence order" than the previous control you had been to. And the sequence order, ie. the way of taking the controls to get the highest score, was first all the odd-numbered controls, lowest number to highest, and then all the even-numbered ones, again lowest to highest. Meaning in this case, 31, 33, 35, ... 51, 53, 55, 32, 34, 36 ... 52, 54, 56.

So a max score was 26 points for all the controls + 25 bonus points = 51. Lots of folks went for it, and many succeeded. Time limit was 1 hour.

1. Ian Smith, 51, 24:51
2. Isak Prellner, 51, 25:23
3. Ben Gallup, 51, 27:15
4. Joe Brautigam, 51, 27:48
5. Roine Andersson, 51, 28:33
6. Jeremy Colgan, 51, 30:04
7. Ksenya Popova, 51, 30:25
8. JJ Cote, 51, 30:35
9. Greg Balter,51, 34:26
10. Michael Laraia, 51, 37:08
11. Steve Richardson, 51, 37:23
12. Andis Vitolins, 51, 39:20
13. Barb Bryant, 51, 41:09
14. Keegan Harkavy, 51, 41:25
15. Glen Tryson, 51, 41:50
16. Ken Walker Sr, 51, 42:44
17. Patrick McNeal, 51, 43:01
18. Katia Bartoldi, 51, 44:21
19. Peter Goodwin, 51, 44:58
20. Craig Weber, 51, 45:02
21. Keith Durand, 51, 45:36
22. Rick DeWitt, 51, 46:01
23. Earl Lavallee,51, 46:54
24. Jeff Saeger, 51, 49:25
25. Dave Yee, 51, 50:08
26. Charlie DeWeese, 51, 52:10
27. Pavlina Brautigam, 50, 31:19
28. Phil Bricker, 50, 44:28
29. Greg Lewis, 50, 49:28
30. Giovanni Berlanda, 48, 26:31
31. Gail Richardson, 46, 38:03
32. Evalin Brautigam, 43, 26:01
33. Janet Tryson, 43, 32:28
34. Guy Olson, 42, 37:17
35. Brad Harkavy, 42, 56:04
36. Nadia Popova, 40, 32:41
37. Gail Gagarin, 40, 32:46
37. Rhonda DeWeese, 40, 32:46
39. Susie DeWitt, 39, 36:25
40. George Walker, 37, 23:49
41. Harlan Altepeter, 33, 36:13
42. Merrick Lavallee, 28, 36:13

As usual, and as expected in corn maze night O', no one was overtime. And no one called 911. :-)

The following story was in the Greenfield paper yesterday, front page, above the fold, along with a photo of the maze.

================

Alice in Sunderland

The high-tech making of this fall’s Mike’s Maze is a family affair

By TOM RELIHAN Recorder Staff

SUNDERLAND — This fall, it won’t take a trip down any rabbit holes along the banks of the Connecticut River to experience Sunderland’s own version of Wonderland. At Warner’s Farm on South Main Street, this year’s design for Mike’s Maze features Alice herself, the Cheshire Cat and some very unhappy pink flamingos.
While answering a series of trivia questions correctly will see most visitors through the sprawling eight acres of cut maize with relative ease, planning and constructing the annual attraction takes much longer, according to those who are responsible for putting it all together.

This season is the first time that David and Jess Wissemann, owner Mike Wissemann’s son and daughter- in-law, have stepped up to take over the design and planning of the maze, since local artist Will Sillin, the original “maze master” and artistic mind behind each year’s new theme, has decided to hang up his weed whacker and retire from the corn maze industry.

“It’s an enormous amount of work,” said Jess Wissemann, who drew up this year’s “Alice in Sunderland” design based on Lewis Carroll’s famous books “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” and “Through the Looking-Glass.” She said the design itself is sourced partly from the original illustrations by John Tenniel and partly from the Disney adaptation.

Other features include a hand of playing cards and the Mad Hatter’s hat. The entire design is encompassed within a giant keyhole.

“We pride ourselves on the intricacy of our designs,” Wissemann said. Past mazes have depicted Andy Warhol’s Campbell Soup can, the Mona Lisa, a portrait of Charles Darwin and a giant raven, among others. “Will always said it’s not as much a maze as it is corn art on Earth.”

When an aerial image of the maze was posted on Facebook, it became the number-one trending post on Reddit for several hours and was widely shared on Imgur. Yahoo News on Thursday named the maze the “Best Corn Maze in the U.S.”

Cutting the corn

So, what does it take to create Mike’s Maze?

The process begins not on the fields, but in the digital world of Adobe Illustrator, said Jess Wissemann. Sillin provided her with lessons on how to use the software before bowing out completely.

“You have to imagine drawing with a tractor,” said Wissemann of the design process. “There’s no ability to do really super fine detail, and that can be limiting.”

She said all of the paths need to be at least five feet wide to accommodate droves of maze-goers on the busiest of fall days, which further limits the level of detail that can be added to the layout.

Once the design is complete, the physical construction of the maze is left to Rob Stouffer of Precision Mazes, a Missouri-based corn maze cutting company that uses a customized Bobcat utility vehicle equipped with a flail mower and global satellite positioning system to cut corn within less than a foot of what the specifications call for.

Wissemann said the farm has been working with Stouffer for the past three seasons. The first maze for which he was hired — a depiction of Salvador Dali that has proven to be the farm’s most intricate design to date — took almost two full days to complete. The Alice in Wonderland maze took one full day, she said.
Wissemann said the Illustrator file is loaded into Stouffer’s system and the route necessary to produce the design is plotted out digitally. Then, Stouffer and his Bobcat disappear into the fields of 4-foot-high corn for the day.

“It saves us a lot of time,” Wissemann said. “Will used to cut the design out by hand based on the grid along the sides of the field. He came out one year after weed whacking our Noah Webster design totally covered in corn matter. I have so much more respect for him having to go out and cut that from the grid after going through the design process. It’s like he has a sixth sense for corn mazes.”

Mike Wissemann said he originally met Stouffer at a trade show, and it took a lot of faith for him to let go of his annual project’s construction and trust another to take it over.

As accurate as Stouffer’s work is, Jess Wissemann said, parts of Alice’s face, the Cat’s eyes and the rabbit still required some hand-plucking of stalks. The farm’s staff was guided in that process by a camera-equipped drone that fed real-time video to a field command center.

“Dave would be out in the field shaking the stalks until we found the right one, and I’d say ‘I think that’s the one to pull,’” she said. “Three stalks of corn could throw off (Alice’s) whole face.”

Sillin said he’s delighted to have the Wissemanns take over the maze, but lamented not having been the one to come up with the Wonderland theme.

“I wish I had thought of their idea, it might have kept me doing it for another year!” he joked. “I was very much blown away by it.”

Sillin said he decided to pass the reins to the younger generation because both designing and cutting the maze had become too much work for him as he tried to increase the intricacy of the design and keep it fresh for visitors each year. Though he used a GPS system similar to Stouffer’s to create the first maze in 2000, he found it unwieldy to maneuver and operate. From 2001 to 2012, Sillin used the common art technique of using a grid to scale a drawing up, except instead of transposing it to an 8-inch by 10-inch piece of paper, he had to replicate it over eight acres.

“We were pushing the envelope each year, and it got to the point where it was taking more than a month to lay it out and cut it. It kind of got crazy,” Sillin said.

Part of keeping that maze fresh is the different games that visitors can participate in each year.

Dave Wissemann said he used both of Carroll’s books and most of their numerous cinematic renditions to develop the trivia game that visitors can complete to help guide them through the maze. He’s also designed a scavenger hunt that involves finding various props related to the books for the maze’s younger visitors, such as the pink flamingo mallets used in the Queen of Hearts’ croquet match.

“The goal of the maze is that you’re trying to get to the Queen’s croquet match on time. We all know what the Queen does to people who are late,” Wissemann joked. “If you get the answers correct, you can navigate the maze more quickly. But there are many spots to waste time. You might encounter Tweedledee and Tweedledum, who will just ramble on.”

Mike’s Maze is located at 23 South Main St. and will be open Sept. 12 through Nov. 8. Admission is $12, with reduced rates for students, seniors and children. Children under 4 are free. Tickets can be purchased online or at the entrance to the maze.

The Haunted Corn Maze attraction will be back by popular demand, as will last year’s popular Zombie Night Patrol paintball attraction. New this year will be Dave’s Derby Pedal Cars. Admission is $12, with reduced rates for students, seniors and children. Children under 4 are free. Tickets can be purchased online or at the entrance to the maze.

Wonderful event!
Again!
Thanks for *everything* PG.

Maps from the maze. In all cases, click on image for a larger version. The red X's denote areas blocked by "fences".

Classic --



Sprint --



Trail O' answers --



Night --

Here's a silly video I put together.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeJvSwLz2So

What did the fences look like?

Orange streamer tape. Two strands, I think. Enough to see.

A heads-up for planning purposes in case you want to add the date to your calendar.

Looks like I might be able to knock off the elusive September 2 in 2017...

PG killed it again. One of my favorite events. And not just because Ian imploded on the trail-o and left the door open for Joe and I. Also, bonus points to Bubs for having Warner Farms corn at the BBQ so we could make it personal.

And a screenshot from the friendly skies, map-north up(ish):


Didn't change the guess that I made from sugarloaf with binoculars (which, for the record, Ian (and Keith!) also used), but it was still a hoot. Going to have to remember the actually charged batteries next year, though.

WHYYYYY on labor day weekend again?!?!?!? Can we please move it forwards by one weekend for next year?

Sounds like a blast, as always. Sorry to have missed it!

and, of course, footage! Or skip right to the arrival at the double-or-nothing balloon.

Labor Day weekend because that's the weekend before the maze opens to the public. It's the schedule of the venue that PG works around.

Cool video! And I spotted five controls (47, 44, 45, 38, 53) in addition to the big yellow balloon.

And finally got around to the overall (well, at least the top 10), based on places in each of the four events (in order: classic, sprint, trail, night) --

1. Ben Gallup, 2-4-7-3 = 16
1. Joe Brautigam, 3-7-2-4 = 16
3. Roine Andersson, 5-2-5-5 = 17
4. Ian Smith, 1-1-22-1 = 25
5. Giovanni Berlinda, 4-3-1-30 = 38
6. Steve Richardson, 11-14-10-11 = 46
7. Evalin Brautigam, 6-4-5-32 = 47
7. Kseniya Popova, 9-15-16-7 = 47
9. Pavlina Brautigam, 8-10-4-27 = 49
10. Michael Laraia, 10-8-25-10 = 53
11. Andis Vitolins, 19-11-12-12 = 54
12. Isak Prellner, 7-9-38-2 = 56
13. J-J Cote, 13-13-23-8 = 57

The event was fantastic as always; thanks very much to PG for making it all happen. Everything was smooth, the courses and maze were superb, and the atmosphere was brilliant and friendly. I for one underestimated the challenge of this maze, even though I was expecting barriers.

My only thought is that Corn Maze Trail-O is still a nascent competition and may not be ready for the big time just yet. I suggest establishing it as an exhibition event, and I'm submitting a proposal to CMOUSA to have separate Corn Maze Champs for Trail-O and the actual races.

I've been informed by the Board of CMOUSA, once they stopped laughing, that Ian's proposal, once it arrives, will be dismissed. The laughter then resumed....

I don't think I've seen the full totals posted, so (if I did this right):
place name C + S + T + N = total
1 Ben Gallup 2 + 4 + 7 + 3 = 16
1 Joe Brautigam 3 + 7 + 2 + 4 = 16
3 Roine Andersson 5 + 2 + 5 + 5 = 17
4 Ian Smith 1 + 1 + 22 + 1 = 25
5 Giovanni Berlanda 4 + 3 + 1 + 30 = 38
6 Steve Richardson 11 + 14 + 10 + 11 = 46
7 Evalin Brautigam 6 + 4 + 5 + 32 = 47
7 Ksenya Popova 9 + 15 + 16 + 7 = 47
9 Pavlina Brautigam 8 + 10 + 4 + 27 = 49
10 Michael Laraia 10 + 8 + 25 + 10 = 53
11 Andis Vitolins 19 + 11 + 12 + 12 = 54
12 Isak Prellner 7 + 9 + 38 + 2 = 56
13 JJ Cote 13 + 13 + 23 + 8 = 57
14 Greg Balter 16 + 6 + 38 + 9 = 69
15 Rick DeWitt 15 + 18 + 16 + 22 = 71
16 Barb Bryant 12 + 23 + 24 + 13 = 72
17 Glen Tryson 25 + 26 + 12 + 15 = 78
18 Peter Goodwin 21 + 24 + 26 + 19 = 90
18 Keith Durand 27 + 39 + 3 + 21 = 90
18 Jeremy Colgan 28 + 27 + 29 + 6 = 90
21 George Walker 17 + 25 + 16 + 40 = 98
21 Charlie DeWeese 18 + 19 + 35 + 26 = 98
21 Gail Richardson 26 + 33 + 8 + 31 = 98
24 Ken Walker Sr 22 + 31 + 31 + 16 = 100
25 Jeff Saeger 33 + 20 + 32 + 24 = 109
26 Guy Olson 35 + 35 + 11 + 34 = 115
27 Katia Bartoldi 30 + 37 + 38 + 18 = 123
28 Dave Yee 37 + 30 + 32 + 25 = 124
29 Earl Lavallee 32 + 43 + 30 + 23 = 128
29 Susie DeWitt 34 + 28 + 27 + 39 = 128
31 Brad Harkavy 40 + 42 + 15 + 35 = 132
32 Greg Lewis 41 + 47 + 16 + 29 = 133
33 Gail Gagarin 42 + 45 + 21 + 37 = 145
34 Nadia Popova 38 + 44 + 38 + 36 = 156
35 Harlan Altepeter 48 + 37 + 38 + 41 = 164

(Looks like this crossed in the mail with PG's post. And maybe we're using slightly different methodology for the calculation?)

My fault, I inadvertently set at least one trap, the night results listed above (just fixed) had Andis ahead of Michael and Steve even though his time was slower.

I think I've got the top few right and I assume you've got the rest right.

Ian! Have some dignity and accept/wallow in your embarrassing defeat gracefully. Where's the Ian-classic "I'm mortified, but I will resume training with vigor and emerge victorious"? Be proud of your high degree of specialization - you're above this cowardly rationalization. Much like your final score was above mine.

Fixed on my table as well.

And also, Ian: invest in a drone.

Or just borrow for an hour one of those cherry-pickers the power companies use to work on the lines.

Or more balloons, eh JJ? Or a bigger one.

I wonder if a BK/FC Cup scoring system might have yielded different results...

Didn't change the guess that I made from sugarloaf with binoculars

Would going to the top of Sugarloaf by bike or foot -- as opposed to motor vehicle -- have been required to be in the Luddite class?

Next year I get a tank of helium and fill the balloon(s) immediately prior to use. Weather permitting.

Ok, I am missing something on the balloon/camera thing...how were you going to recover the camera?

The whole rig was on a tether. Send it up, pull it down, watch the video.

Ah, now I get it.

I can imagine a much more sensible scoring system where your score is the product of your ranks rather than the sum.

I coulda been a contendah...

The first of more-stats-than-you-can-shake-a-cornstalk-at:
By my count, there are 168 corn islands in the maze. This does not take into account the excavation up in the corner, which has effectively separated the bordering island into two pieces, but for topological purposes, the corn is assumed to continue through that gap.
There are two ambiguities on the map, one being a tiny speck on the map at the top of the teapot, but the aerial photos don't show a corn island there. Also, the island just to the east of the one that had the sunflower balloon on it is connected to the larger island by an incredibly thin tendril, but Ben's drone shot shows that they are clearly connected.
Also note that the map as-built differs slightly from the green/beige diagram shown above. The eyes of the Cheshire Cat are different, and the numbers on the hat were omitted. There are 174 corn islands in that diagram (not counting the two tiny ambiguous things).

Map looks fine to me. There is no stacked corn lines.

Pretty sure they're called "bushels", Jagge.

Wait -- ladders are prohibited, but cherry-pickers aren't? Man, you really need to look at these rules with an eye toward specificity...

I had a great time, and will abide by all rules and regulations for future events. Not that it would affect me, I am woefully poor at this Corn O.

Length of sprint course (shortest legal route): 822 meters.

I would have had a great time if it had been held in Perth. Please consider a roadshow tour for the future.

Length of classic course: 2.40 km.

possible CMMTBO next year tRicky. mass start.

Should ask Portugal to consider it at the WMTBOC.

Length of night course, scoring 51 points: 4.15 km.

...and length of this discussion thread so far: 79 posts (subject to revision)

@Jagge: A few stacked comments noticed

Here are the maps from the Dontgetlost corn maze event in Hamilton. We did one in daylight and one at night