Mazes Are Not Just Corny Anymore

Sue Bowman
Southeastern Pa. Correspondent

NEW PARK, Pa. — There’s nothing corny about the popularity of corn mazes across the U.S. each fall. Just ask Hugh McPherson of New Park, in York County, Pennsylvania, who might well be characterized as the father of the modern corn maze — or “The Maze Master,” as he dubs himself.

McPherson didn’t invent the corn maze — he saw his first one in Shippensburg, Pa. back in 1993 while he was still attending Penn State University and majoring in agribusiness — however, he’s certainly responsible for taking the concept to the next level and franchising his ideas. He started with his first corn maze on the family farm in 1997 and grew his Maize Quest business from there. These days, this budding entrepreneur can boast involvement with 45 maze franchises in 23 states and one Canadian province, to which he provides ongoing support via his weekly online classes.

McPherson acknowledges several secrets to the success of his Maize Quest business — and the biggest secret is that, “it’s not all about the corn.”

McPherson realizes he’s most often dealing with farmers who already know how to grow a nice field of corn, so it’s the business side of things that he emphasizes. In particular, he’s found that the real work for his franchises is getting people through the door. That’s why he’s drawn on the expertise from a staff of professional designers and marketers to give his business partners the edge they need to succeed.

When it comes to designing the pattern for the corn mazes, McPherson brought in a “top gun” by contracting with Dave Phillips, the author of more than 25 books on mazes, to handle layout tasks. Design has gone high-tech nowadays and often relies on a GPS unit to assist with cutting in the desired design. Farmers who sign on with Maize Quest have several levels of service options to choose from, ranging from do-it-yourself cutting to having McPherson’s helpers handle those chores.

While a corn maze and pumpkin patch are the most basic level of his business, that arrangement only creates a six- to eight-week window of economic opportunity for the owner from about Labor Day until early November. McPherson encourages a broader approach to create a successful business model for supplementing farm income. He looks for partners who are “wired for entertainment” and looking to make a multi-year commitment to capitalize on repeat business.

Jazzing up a corn maze itself means adding extras within the maze to hold participants’ attention. To avoid boredom, McPherson’s outfit tries to add a point of interest at least once every 25 yards within the maze. It might be a game station, a choice to make or a question to answer with a secret decoder.

With many school groups as customers, McPherson tries to incorporate educational opportunities whenever possible.

McPherson has also realized the importance of “thinking beyond the corn.” To that end, his company has developed a variety of other activities that can stretch the fun to last almost year-round. McPherson prefers to think of the corn maze as “the anchor store in a mall.” Other related attractions might include small puzzle mazes, such as tiles in a patio, straw bale and rope mazes, a stone labyrinth and a single-course walk. The list goes on and on: fence mazes, obstacle course mazes, mist mazes, bamboo mazes, hedge mazes and even scavenger hunts using GPS units.

McPherson tries out new ideas using his own Maize Quest Fun Park as the guinea pig. McPherson’s home farm presently includes 20 mazes in addition to this year’s eight-acre Wild West cornfield maze with its four miles of pathways.

While Hugh’s father, Paul McPherson, farms 1,200 acres of fruit and grain in York County, Hugh runs the family’s farm market and the entertainment division. They try to have one segment attract interest to another; for instance, the mazes can be used to introduce “pick your own apples,” while the school tours can complement the farm market business. Adding temptations like bulk candy and hand-dipped ice cream to fresh produce has been a good combination for their market.

Hugh McPherson realizes that he’s facing competition from other entertainment venues such as mini-golf, amusement parks and bowling alleys. He’s also well aware that his farm’s location isn’t an easy place to find from his target market of customers in the Baltimore area. As a rule of thumb, he said, “fun time” needs to equal at least twice the travel time for an amusement business to succeed. In McPherson’s case, he’s been able to stretch the average time a visitor spends at his farm to around four to six hours. He did this by consciously adding more attractions for younger children, such as an indoor playground, corn box and a birthday party center in his “Fun Barn.”

McPherson attributes his success to his Penn State agribusiness degree and “a whole lot of crazy.” He marched in the Nittany Lions’ prestigious Blue Band and sang in the university’s show choir — both of which gave him a flair for showmanship that is put to good use in his current career. McPherson acknowledges that entertainment and education options on a farm vary widely, and that what he does is only one of the many possible facets. Dairy tours, petting zoos and bed and breakfasts are all possible agribusinesses, too. McPherson notes that the key is authenticity — do what you do best and with the most genuine enthusiasm and you’ll succeed.

What does the future hold for this young ag entrepreneur? McPherson is busy these days not only inventing new mazes and games for farm environments, but he’s also concentrating on products to solve problems for his franchises.

He’s devised solutions as diverse as an audio system that can give a pre-recorded tour talk during hayrides, and software to manage group tour bookings. The possibilities are limited only by his imagination — and Hugh McPherson is a very imaginative guy.

For more information about Maize Quest, visit www.cornmaze.com, www.MazeCtlog.com, www.MazeFunPark.com or call Hugh at (866) WE-LOSE-U.