Corn is a-maze-ingly fun

From the side of the road it might appear to be another corn field. From the air, it's a beautiful picture of "The Wizard of Oz". The 22 acre masterpiece is actually a maze made of maize.

Saturday, October 11th 2008, 6:48 pm

By: News 9


By Christian Price, News9.com INsite Team

CHICKASHA, Okla. -- From the side of the road it might appear to be another corn field. From the air, it's a beautiful picture of "The Wizard of Oz". The 22 acre masterpiece is actually a maze made of maize.

This is the first year that Jerry Reding has created a maze out of his cornfield. Reding's artistic corn creation is something he has wanted to do for a while.

"This is something that's been going on around in other states now for as much as ten to twelve years," Reding said. "All the way around, there's only two or three in Oklahoma, where all the other states have as many as ten to twenty of them."

There are actually six mazes that make up the complete 22 acres. Each maze varies in its difficulty and amount of time it takes to find your way out. One maze is even dedicated to Halloween.

"We have a haunted maze, which is the witch, and that's about a 30 minute maze. It just opened last weekend and the first night went good, but it was more like a dress rehearsal," Reding said. "Saturday night we were having to go in and get people's tennis shoes and flip-flops because we were literally scaring them out of their shoes."

 The maze itself has to be maintained on a daily basis because of the nature of Oklahoma's wind.

"The first part of this week really hurt us. We have to go through and shear. It's blown the edges of the walk ways over into the walk ways. We have to go through and shear off the seed tops," Reding said. "Fortunately, the plant springs back up once you get the weight of the seed top off of it."

Reding doesn't mind all the hard work that goes into maintaining a maze this size. The pay off for him is seeing people enjoy what he's created.

"One of my favorite things is when I'm back in the back feeding the cattle and I've got a minute, I can sit back and look out through the barn doors and just watch the crowds and everybody having fun," Reding said. "It gives me a good feeling to see that I was able to bring some joy to so many people. That's the fun part for me is seeing people happy out there."

The Reding Farm offers more than just corn mazes. Pumpkin and corn air cannons are available to shoot. A section of the farm has also been set up for little ones to pet animals like goats and horses. There is even a stage set up for special weekend concerts. The hay rides are a popular attraction, and the sand pile is also a favorite. Parents can't get their children out of it.

The hours of operation are Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., and  Sunday from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m.

If you want to go during the week, just call ahead and let them know you're coming. They'll open up for you.

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