Top of the Morning, Sept. 15, 2022

Jim Rossow, The News-Gazette, Champaign-Urbana, Ill.
·1 min read

Sep. 15—The corn maze at L&A Family Farms near Paris opens Saturday with a clever new look.

As a first-year sponsor, Eastern Illinois University offered up a design that Missouri-based Precision Mazes carved into 10 acres of corn, including Old Main at the entrance and a giant "#EIU" that feeds into the mazes.

The connection to the Charleston school doesn't end there. Those successfully locating the three checkpoints throughout the maze — taking a selfie at each stop for evidence — will have the chance to spin a wheel for prizes (EIU swag) afterward.

EIU Director of Marketing and Communications Christy Kilgore said school officials will take a dry run Friday and is confident "that we won't get lost. We think it's a really cool design and a neat opportunity to walk in the castle (Old Main) in a way."

Precision Mazes needed 10 hours in July to finish the job. Owner Rob Stouffer, who started his business in 2001, said the giant lettering and castle was "a fun project" made better by the conditions at L&A Family Farms. "If the crop looks good, our work looks awesome."

On Facebook: How the maze came to be