(Hartville, Ohio) – Sept. 13, 2006 – This time of year in Ohio, it’s all about fall colors, Buckeye Football and corn. It’s also harvest time, which means pulling together to help the community. And no one does it quite like farmer Bill Bakan. Every year, Bakan mows his cornfield into an incredible maze that offers stunning aerial images. He then invites the community in for wagon rides, wine tastings, balloon festivals and pumpkin cannon demonstrations. A portion of the proceeds from this year’s annual Maize Valley Fall Experience supports local charities.
This year, farmer Bakan has made his creation bigger than ever with an incredible eight-acre cornfield maze featuring the famous BigFoot monster truck. The maze also features the iconic Firestone and Ford logos as well as the logo for Terry’s Tire Town, a local Bridgestone Firestone tire distributor and retail chain, which is partnering with farmer Bakan on this year’s selection of fall maze activities.
“This is a nice way to welcome Terry’s Tire Town to our community and featuring the BigFoot monster truck was a lot of fun,” said Bakan. “Creating an image like this is not rocket science but it’s not falling off a log either. We hire a graphic designer and use Global Positioning Satellite technology (GPS) to help us figure out where to mow…it’s a pretty high-tech process,” Bakan continued. Rob Stouffer of Precision Mazes provides the GPS guided cutting system to carve the design in the field.
“We do all of this in the interest of helping the community and as a way to drive sales of the products we grow,” said Bakan. “The maze continues to draw rave reviews, but the pumpkin cannon is also a big crowd pleaser. We think it’s how Tim Allen would market pumpkins, arrgh, arrgh, aargh,” Bakan added.
“We are honored to work with the Maize Valley Farm Market and Winery on this effort,” said Devon Miller, Advertising Director of Terry’s Tire Town. “It is very exciting for us to see our logo in the maze and it’s gratifying to be able to give back to our local community.”
This year the general admission entry fee is $8. One dollar from each ticket benefits The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and another dollar goes to the Association for Retarded Citizens (ARC) of Stark County, an organization which assists individuals with developmental disabilities. Bakan’s son Brett is autistic and was enrolled in one of ARC’s preschool programs.
The Maize Valley Fall Experience is open Labor Day through Halloween. Admission for children is $5; those under 2 years old are admitted free. For more information and directions, visit: www.maizevalleywinery.com.