Patrick County's First Corn Maze Unveils 2009 Music Themed Design
Mountain Meadow Farm and Craft Market released the design for the Corn Acoustics! Corn maze in Meadows of Dan, Virginia this week. Each year's design honors the music and musicians of Sout
The fourth year theme is called Musical Notes. The design was a collaboration among Sue Shelor and several friends. It features a stylized musical staff with notes and a treble clef.
I started thinking about the maze design in winter, commented Sue Shelor, who is also a gourd artist. It's a creative effort for us at Mountain Meadow Farm and Craft Market. It's labor intense, but we get a gratifying feeling from the fact that we do it ourselves. We founded Patrick County's first corn maze in 2006 and every year our designs have been a hand crafted effort.
Sammy Shelor, Sue's husband, is a musician and helps with the corn maze each year. A local dairy farmer direct seeds the field in two direction for a dense planting. This makes for a more challenging maze. After the corn that is planted in the spring grows to four inches tall, Sammy and Sue, with the help of friends, measure the field and lay out the design on graph paper. Using a walking wheel, a can of spray paint and a square, they lay out the design on the new corn and then go in with weed eaters to create the basic outline. Finally they use larger mowers to shape the design and cut it into the final form. More labor is involved in maintaining the maze, which must be cut every week. The design is usually cut by the end of June and by mid to late August the paths are established. The corn in the maze now stands at an amazing seven and a half feet tall, commented Shelor.
The Corn Acoustics! Corn Maze opens September 5 during the 5th Annual Chinquapin Festival. The three-day festival features local arts and crafts, live music, and slow-cooked BBQ. Picnic tables are provided for limited seating under the big tent.
The promoter recommends visitors bring along their lawn chairs for the music and to enjoy the festivities. The festival is held
