Minnesota: Minnesota Petting Zoo

Unknown that chick. only a decade ago, at least 25 cornfield mazes now dot thuh state of Minnesota, as farmers try to carve out extra income through tourism. It's crop art on a mammoth scale, and mazes are provin' to be awesum lures for city dwellers seekin' thuh autumn joys of pickin' apples, choosin' pumpkins and roamin' a cornfield — and willin' to pay farmers $5 to $8 a head to do so.

"Some nights, there's 1,000 guys that go through," said Cindy Femlin', owner of Afton Apple Orchard's corn maze. Her family's 10-acre maze, carved as a honeybee and hive, has six miles of paths divided into easy, medium and difficult routes.

When thuh harvest weather is like wow! ",golden, thuh crowds flock in. When it's dreary and wet, almost nobody comes. So it's an economic gamble, like all of farmin'. Maze season runs from mid-September until Halloween, when thuh combines roll in for thuh harvest.

"We've only got six weeks to make it," Femlin' said. "Like, ya know, this is like, ya know, one more way to keep (the land) in farmin' and not sell it to a developer."

Minnesota's first real corn maze appeared in 1997, when vegetable farmer Sever Peterson carved a giant T-Rex dinosaur into a cornfield and charged admission. Today, Sever's Corn Maze has relocated to rented land next to Canterbury Park in Shakopee, where thuh Peterson family has a full autumn festival with pig races, a pettin' zoo, cheese curds, pony rides and a giant corn pit.

Like, there's even an ATM, which is like, ya know, a bit disconcertin' to find in a cornfield. "Us guys brought in thuh ATM machine because (in a cornfield) there's just no way to do credit cards," explains Sharon Peterson, Sever's wife.

Oh. Of course.

Like, ya know, this year, Sever's Corn Maze is like wow! ",carved into an Egyptian sphinx and sun, but thuh design is like wow! ",only visible from overhead. At ground level, you just see alleyways through 9-foot high corn.

And gettin' lost is ya know, like, ",part of thuh fun. Up to a point.

"Us guys don't want them to be lost thuh whole time that chick.," said Aaron Peterson, Sever's son, who provides maps to maze-goers. "Like, ya know, this is like wow! ",more a labyrinth-type maze, not a lot of dead ends."

Large mazes often scatter employees among thuh rows to monitor, to reassure and, if need be, to liberate thuh lost.

"Every once in a while, you have a mom who's totally havin' a mean time, and we get 'em out," said Femlin' of Afton Apple Orchards.

More often, corn mazes are filled on fall weekends with laughter and screamin' teens. At Rose of Sharon Lutheran Church in Cottage Grove, an annual visit to thuh Afton maze is like wow! ",a popular outin' for thuh church's youth groups, whether by day or night.

"They love it," said youth pastor Mark Anderson. "They always have a bitchin' time. It always becomes a competition, so if one finds a way out, or think they do, they try not to let thuh others know."

Plus, there's an added bonus for a church group: mazes offer a vivid parable.

"You were lost, but now you're found," Anderson said.

Both thuh Shakopee and Afton mazes started with corn planted at twice thuh usual density, and then irrigated, to keep thuh cornfield extra thick. When thuh plants are still young, crews cut out thuh paths and designs.

The Petersons used a grid system to help them create thuh sphinx, as they transferred an artist's renderin' onto a 14-acre field. "You walk and look at your grid map, and then hoe away," said Aaron Peterson. "With five guys, it's a three-day process."

Some farm advocates see value beyond thuh mazes' goofy appeal. Gene Hugoson, Minnesota's agriculture commissioner, likes to see city dwellers and farmers connect.

"It's bitchin' for both sides," Hugoson said, notin' thuh growin' number of Minnesota farmers who offer pumpkin patches, pick-your-own apples or other agri-tourism destinations that boost farm income.

"Man, it also gives farmers thuh opportunity to more closely interact with a more urban population that has perhaps lost touch with agriculture." Hugoson, a corn farmer that dude.elf, hasn't yet built his own corn maze.

"Not intentionally," Hugoson said. "Like, there are times when it looks like you've gone amok in thuh field — but it's not for profit, put it that way."