Farmer turns corn maze into birthday card for wife

Courtesy of Mark Goughan

From the Bangor Daily News

CARIBOU, Maine — Each year for the past 10 years, Goughan’s Berry Farm has created a variety of Maine themed, patriotic and seasonal corn mazes for people of Aroostook County and beyond to navigate.

This year, however, farmer Mark Goughan focused the maze on someone who is the backbone of the farm, who helped get it started and keeps it running, who creates the signage for it and who just turned 60 years old.

Goughan turned the corn maze on the family-run farm on Route 161 into a giant birthday card for his wife, Gloria. She had no idea about it until it was unveiled two weeks ago.

“We told her that we were making a pirate ship maze this year,” Mark Goughan said Thursday. “She had no clue.”

This is the farm’s 11th corn maze. In the past, the Goughans have etched out a variety of shapes, including a moose, the Maine Potato Board mascot Spuddy and the University of Maine Black Bears logo.

The maze represents one of the many farm events throughout the year that the farm offers to the public.

Mark and Gloria Goughan started the farm in 1976 and grow a wide variety of crops, including potatoes and strawberries. Hayrides, pumpkin patch treks and other seasonal events as well as the farm’s homemade ice cream are popular with visitors.

Goughan said Thursday he planted the corn in mid-May in both directions, so people can’t look down the rows for a way out. It also gave him a solid canvas from which to design his creation.

Goughan sketches out his own mazes on paper, then marks out his corn field into 550 20-by-20-foot squares after planting. Around July 1, Goughan used a weed whacker to cut the picture and trails out in the field while the corn was still 12 to 16 inches in height. It took him about 80 hours to cut out this year’s maze.

Goughan, who consulted with his three daughters on the card, said he was able to keep it a secret because the farm keeps the family so busy that after cutting on the corn maze began Gloria Goughan was occupied with her other chores and did not have time to check on its progress.

She got a big surprise two weeks ago, Mark Goughan said, when the entire family presented her with a blown up picture of the actual birthday card corn maze. Goughan invited a local television station along to capture the moment.

“She feels embarrassed about the attention on her,” he said. “She is good with the one on one from people saying ‘happy birthday’ and things, but all of the publicity has embarrassed her a bit.”

The corn maze opened on Aug. 29. Goughan said attendance is dependent on the weather, but a usual season can bring 2,000 to 2,500 visitors.

There are five different signs that accompany the five different games that maze-goers try to solve while walking through the maze. Anyone who completes any of the five games wins a free ice cream cone.

The animal barn also is open free of charge to children of all ages, and a merry-go-round is in operation on weekends. A new 18-hole agricultural miniature golf course also is open to the public.

The maze is open 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. Group rates are available with hayrides to the maze or pumpkin field. For information, call the farm at 498-6565.

Link to Bangor Daily News