PIERPONT — The township’s premiere tourism attraction is open for business.
The Hudson Farm Corn Maze, located on Creek Road, was started by sisters Sue and Pam Hudson as a way to save the family farm. While they aren’t quite there yet — Pam works at Home Depot to help close the gap — attendance at the maze has grown each year as guests travel to Pierpont and pay $6 a person to get lost in a corn field.
This year’s maze features a barn design with silo and fence. There are lots of dead ends that come close to the haymow and barn’s front doors but don’t quite make it. Plan on spending at least an hour in the maze, more if you are directionally challenged.
The sisters’ nephew, Mitch Hudson, designed the maze, which is laid out on graph paper then transferred to the 10-acre field by allocating rows of corn to squares on the paper. In past years, the sisters have hired Amish youngsters to create the maze by helping them pull up or cut corn stalks after the plants got a good start in the field. This year they got an early jump on the job and used a lawn mower to clear the paths.
The maze is open every day, 10 a.m. (1 p.m. on Sundays) to dusk, through Halloween. It’s not intended to be a spooky stroll, but for those who want to add a little creepiness to their experience, there’s the option of renting a flashlight and walking it at night. You’ll need to make advance arrangements for night walks by calling the farm. Be sure to bring a cell phone, just in case.
“Last year we got a call from a cell phone in the maze,” Sue says. “Pam had to go in and rescue some people.”
The sisters enhance visitors’ experiences by offering pumpkins for sale, a rope maze for children and hay wagon rides. The rides are drawn by horses and provided by a neighbor. Rides are by appointment only ($3 a person) and there is a minimum number of riders per appointment.
There’s also a petting farm for youngsters. The sisters have goats and use the milk from them to make fudge. New to the farm this year are llamas, a micro Vietnamese pot-bellied pig and two Icelandic sheep.
There is a fee to visit the petting farm, but on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, they offer half-off for grandparents who want to give their city-slicker grandkids a taste of country life.
“We have a lot of people who come to bring the grandchildren to see the animals,” Sue says.
The Hudson farm includes a large field that the sisters plan to put to good use on the morning of Sept. 26, when they host a fall bounty sale, followed by an afternoon meeting of the Lake Erie Goats of All Types Society.
The sale is the Ohio version of the chicken yard sale, which had become a tradition in Conneautville, Pa., but was discontinued last year. The Hudson sisters decided to revive it on the other side of the state line and hosted their first one June 13.
Sue says the event is for people who want to sell excess produce, small livestock, farming supplies, baked goods and other products of the land. There’s no charge to come and shop; vendors pay a donation to participate, but they are limited to farm-related items.
“We’re pretty open to different things, but we don’t want it to be a yard sale,” Sue says.
To schedule a visit to the maze, call 577-1196. The farm is located at 400 Creek Road.
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