By Jeremy Hannaford (Contributor) – Email
Print Edition: September 10, 2014
One field at the Chilliwack Corn Maze and Pumpkin Farm looks a little greener and leafier this year: UFV’s logo is featured as part of the corn maze this year as part of the university’s 40th anniversary celebrations. On September 3, UFV president Mark Evered invited university officials and the press to an early showing of the maze.
The maze will open to the public on September 13 with an admission price of $10. UFV director of advancement Hilary Beard said the proceeds go directly to students in the form of the Changing Lives, Building Communities scholarship endowment.
“It is an endowment set up specifically to fund multiple awards for our students,” Beard noted, and went on to thank sponsors, Peterbilt Pacific and Fraserway RV, as well as the Chilliwack Corn Maze itself. “They enjoy partnering with us, we enjoy partnering with them, and then other funding is coming from our sponsors.”
Evered expanded on the significance of the partnership to UFV in the community.
“This farm illustrates important elements of agriculture and agri-tourism … what a great way to promote agriculture and this year, the 40 years of success of the University of the Fraser Valley,” Evered said.
This effect was made visible from above to attendees of the showing, who got a bird’s-eye view thanks to Chinook Helicopters. Pilot Cathy Press gave passengers a five-minute glimpse of the maze with UFV’s logo.
The process of making the maze takes a few days to complete. Lloyd Taekema, an employee at the corn maze, explained how it works.
“We do it when the corn is small,” Lloyd stated. “They come with three guys and [plot the maze] in six hours. They’ll put little flags every so many rows, then we plant them to make it easier to count rows. From there, they put a dye down and I go over it with my tractor … it takes me about three days to go over the maze.”
John Bruinsma, who owns the corn maze with his wife Diane, said that when the maze began, they did not know what to expect.
“When we started this 16 years ago, we didn’t know where this was going,” he said. “We’ve seen lots of trends, lots of people, and I think there’s an analogy there that points toward UFV. When they started, they didn’t really know where they were going [either] … there is a maze analogy in there, too, because you still don’t know where you’re going — you’re searching and finding.”
