Rutledge Corn Maze Tangles Visitors with Twilight and Haunted Mazes

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Rutledge Corn MazeVisitors may come for the haunting, night-time experience of traveling through a corn maze under a moonlit sky.  Or, perhaps a visitor is a fan of the Twilight series and opts for the regular maze with an Edward and Bella theme.  School and church groups drive from as far as Seattle to experience the maze together.  Sports teams and families hold birthday parties in the corn rooms.  Whatever your reason, choosing to experience the Rutledge Corn Maze has been a fall tradition for the past twelve years.

Dick Rutledge bought the land that holds a 6-acre corn maze in the early 1990’s.  In 2000, Ryan Rutledge, grandson of the original owner, who was on the selection team for the first corn maze – a tribute to Olympia with the capitol dome.  Rutledge, who considers himself a “Farmer/Marketer”, helped choose most of the corn maze designs for last nine years.  “One of my favorite designs was the money maze with our partner Obee Credit Union.  Throughout the maze, there were stops with questions aimed at financial literacy,” described Rutledge.  Other designs have included a train, fire truck, Statue of Liberty, Lewis and Clark, and last year’s memorial to Captain Phil Harris from the hit television show “Deadliest Catch.”

Rutledge Corn Maze“This year’s Twilight design is by far the best,” remarked Rutledge.  “With Breaking Dawn hitting theatres in November, we have a great opportunity to tie into the media attention and hopefully attract big crowds,” continued Rutledge.   He noted that the Twilight series and the Rutledge Corn Maze share a similar demographic.  “60-70% of our customers are women between the ages of 15-45, which I think is much of the same market that reads and watches Twilight,” said Rutledge.

The design process begins in November.  The maze is planted in June using the elaborate design, a high-tech tractor equipped with GPS, and a proprietary software program.  The Rutledge family uses a corn maze designer from Idaho.  The designer lays out the maze using a patented, CAD-like software program.  He then loads it into the GPS and the tractor drives the route, noting when to drop the planter and when to pick it up.

In 2004, the Rutledge Corn Maze became the first maze world-wide to be planted in the design.  Previously, the designer would walk through a field planted with knee-high corn and spray paint the design.  The Rutledge family would then mow the markings.

Farm Scene Investigation, new to the Rutledge Corn Maze this year, is geared at the younger, under-eight crowd.  With no markings on the map, children travel through the maze to locate each checkpoint.  The goal – solve the mystery of why Farmer Joe is missing.  The entire family is sure to enjoy the produce stand, pumpkin patch, and a flock of chickens.

Rutledge Corn MazeVisit the Rutledge Corn Maze Monday – Thursday from 10:00am – 10:00 pm and Friday and Saturday from 10:00 am – 5:00 pm.  The haunted maze is open Friday and Saturday nights from 5:00 pm – 12:30 am.  Click through to www.rutledgecornmaze.com for more information on hours and admission prices.  This year, the Rutledge Corn Maze will stay open every weekend through November 27th to coincide with the Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn movie premiere.

 

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