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Date: 10/31/2023
SUNDERLAND — On Dog Walker’s Weekend, Nov. 3 through 5, Mike’s Maze is open for donut hounds and basset hounds alike. It’s the only time four-legged family members get a chance to savor the melt in your mouth cider donuts the maze is famous for.
“For many years it’s been an obsession to make great cider donuts,” said Creative Co-Director David Wissemann, son of Mike Wissemann, co-founder of one of the largest corn mazes in the country. “It’s always an amusing thought, the amount of time we have obsessed over trying to create something like a donut.”
The Corn Café will use up half a ton of donut mix over the season and offer the treat to 20,000 visitors.
Rover must always be on a leash during Dog Walker’s Weekend, Wissemann said, but owners may still cavort among the stalks with their loved ones as they figure their way through the maze. The theme this year, the 24th maze in the corn fields, is artificial intelligence. The single word, THINKING, in the middle of the main maze — there’s a beer maze on Friday nights too — is surrounded by a message hidden in a digital font.
The font was designed by David Jonathan Ross, a Conway resident. The hidden message reads, in the age of artificial intelligence what makes us human?
Choosing a yearly theme is a big part of the fun for Wissemann. He and his creative co-director, his wife Jess Wissemann, do a deep dive on a subject and learn all they can. Last year, movies were the theme. In 2020, voting and voting rights offered parents a chance to talk about civic duty with their children.
This year, a key figure is Alan Turing, the father of artificial intelligence.
“We’re creating our games and our themes for the mazes, then seeing how the public reacts and interacts with them,” David Wissemann said. “They’re received really well and that’s gratifying and why we do it.”
Cornstock, a play on the historic Woodstock music festival of 1968, was the theme of the corn maze in 2019. That year, Jess Wissemann completed four large paintings in the style of Peter Max, with the flowing letters and psychedelic colors of the era. The paintings were painted at the Green River Festival and announced that year’s corn maze theme ahead of the season.
This year, a binary coding game challenges the kids to decode a secret message. Parents will be challenged by questions on the larger concerns of AI, what it means for the United States and the world.
Along with the spud cannons, the pasture playground offers kids a place to romp. An inflated jumping pad, double tube slide, rubber duckie races and giant versions of chess and Jenga can be fun for parents as well. Wissemann said the majority of visitors to the maze are moms, dads and the children. College nights are a big draw too.
Fans of ales and pilsners enjoy the beer maze. The Wissemanns ask half a dozen local brewers to set up stations among the corn rows and pour samples with nice foamy heads. The beer maze is open only on Friday nights, though, and the last two of this season are fully reserved.
Mike’s Maze serves food at the Corn Café, American fare including hot dogs and hamburgers, soda and cider. Hours are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Admission is $12 for adults, $10 for children, students, seniors and active service members.