UNION TOWNSHIP, Ohio — For Union Township Farmer Randy Rausch and his wife Jayne, there’s a few things they look forward to each year: The fall season and a new corn maze display.
“There’s two Jack’s in Ohio. We had already done one, now we’re doing Jack Nicklaus,” said Randy, a fifth-generation farmer.
“We start noticing kind of in the middle of summer, you see airplanes that are flying in the sky, and they just kind of like veer over and they’ll fly over it a couple of times. So you know what they’re doing,” said Randy.
The Rausch family has partnered with a maze designer out of Utah for the past 20 years for these creations at their farm, the MAiZE at Little Darby Creek.
In the past, they’ve paid tribute to Ohio State, the Cavaliers championship, Jungle Jack and it was a no-brainer this year: the “Golden Bear” Jack Nicklaus of Columbus, Ohio who is a retired professional golfer and won 117 professional tournaments during his career.
“We ourselves don’t play golf but we are huge sports fans you know, so it just seemed natural sometime we are going to pay tribute to Jack on our corn maze,” said Jayne.
“The funny thing is when we put the design in it, and things like that, the corn is so small you’re walking around in there and you think, ‘boy this is simple.’ Once the corn gets over top of your head, it’s like I don’t know where I’m at anymore,” said Randy.
The maze has 85 decision points, and it could take an hour to get through.
But no need to worry, your smartphone can help guide you along the way.
The Rausches, along with their son and daughter — the 6th generation to work on the family’s farm — expect thousands of visitors this fall and said the reactions on patrons’ faces make the whole experience worthwhile.
“A lot of the kids that are coming out, even their parents didn’t grow up on a farm anymore, but a lot of their grandparents did. So they don’t know a lot of things about farming today. So it’s fun to get them back to where their grandparents grew up,” said Randy.
This year’s display is more than eight acres and over two miles in length.
The MAiZE at Little Darby Creek is located at 8657 Axe Handle Rd. in Milford Center, Ohio, about 30 miles from Columbus.
The maze will be on display through Oct. 31. For more information, click here.
