Every summer, Mark Van Buren and Catherine Baird keep a closely guarded secret.
Their friends and acquaintances try to squeeze it out of them, but their efforts are in vain. And every year, the wait is worth it when the couple, who own the fall agritourism farm Van Buren Acres with Mark’s brother David, can finally unveil the theme for the farm’s infamous corn maze.
This year, Van Buren Acres is celebrating the 75th anniversary of the Peanuts comic strip, and the maze features Snoopy, Charlie Brown, Sally Brown and Linus van Pelt in a 10-acre corn maze on the farm in southwest Licking County. The farm is one of 75 others in the U.S. and Canada honoring the Peanuts anniversary this year, according to The MAiZE Inc., the world’s largest corn maze consulting company.
As they prepare for their eighth season, Van Buren and Baird said the farm is a way to give families a chance to get hands-on experience with farming – whether it’s walking through the corn maze, picking pumpkins or petting and meeting farm animals.
“It’s really fun to see the kids that come from the more urban areas like Columbus, and they just love seeing the animals,” Van Buren said. “They learn where the eggs and the milk and different products come from. It’s not just from the grocery store.”
This isn’t the farm’s first maze to capture people’s attention. In 2021, it made national headlines with its tribute to country music icon Dolly Parton. Other recent themes include Winnie the Pooh in 2023, the Blue Angels – the United States Navy’s flight demonstration squadron – in 2022, Pac-Man in 2020 and U.S. space exploration in 2019.
The farm opens for the season on September 7, but the maze is already catching the community’s attention. As of Thursday evening, the Facebook post revealing the theme had more than 2,000 likes and been shared 575 times.
Every year the maze looks beautiful – and this year is no exception, as it perfectly resembles the iconic faces of Charlie Brown, Snoopy and the gang.
So how do they do it? We have the answers.
When does Van Buren Acres come up with a theme for its corn maze each year?
After all the pumpkins are harvested and Van Buren Acres closes its fall season each November, Van Buren and Baird are usually already planning for the next year.
Baird typically comes up with the theme and then works with Utah-based The MAiZE Inc. to bring her vision to life.
She ties the maze’s theme to important milestones. Parton turned 75 in 2021, when her face was featured in the maze. The Blue Angels celebrated their 75th anniversary the year before their 2022 launch, and the squadron performed at the Columbus Air Show the following June.
Rather than using its own idea, this year in honor of the 75th anniversary, The MAiZE Inc. licensed the Peanuts characters so that farms across North America, such as Van Buren Acres, can use iconic imagery for their corn mazes.
Nevertheless, Baird made the labyrinth her own by selecting the image recreated in the field.
When is the corn maze cut?
A team of two employees from The MAiZE Inc. comes to the farm each year in mid-June to mow the field when the corn is only a few inches tall, Van Buren said, adding that it typically takes about six hours.
The company sends out several teams of two, and each team visits about 80 of the group’s roughly 300 member farms, Van Buren said.
But once the maze is cut, that doesn’t mean Van Buren and Baird can sit back and wait. Throughout the summer, Van Buren flies a drone over the field so they can cut or plant more corn as needed.
“We’re dealing with the baby,” Van Buren said.
How is the corn maze cut?
Baird designed the maze with the team at The MAiZE Inc. and also provided the measurements of the field. Van Buren planted the corn in a cross pattern to create a large grid.
Van Buren said the MAiZE team does not use GPS when marking and mowing the field.
“When they mow the field, they come out and just count the squares, they mark it and paint it and mow it,” he said.
How difficult is it to keep the topic secret?
Van Buren and Baird aren’t revealing the theme until a few weeks before the season opens, but people are getting creative and trying to figure it out on their own. Van Buren said when the farm had a Pac-Man maze in 2020, a friend texted him saying he knew it was Pac-Man. Van Buren said he couldn’t possibly know that.
“Well, I found out he had bought a drone and was flying it over us. We didn’t even know, and that’s how he found out,” Van Buren said.
Others took photos while flying over the field on their way to or from John Glenn Columbus International Airport, Van Buren said.
When does Van Buren Acres open for the season?
Van Buren Acres, 5066 Keller Road, Hebron, is open September 7 through November 3. Hours are Wednesday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. (weather permitting). Admission is $11 per person; children under 2 are free.
740-607-2175
This article originally appeared in the Newark Advocate: How Van Buren Acres created a Charlie Brown-themed corn maze
