Ohio Correspondent

METAMORA, Ind. — The local Whitewater Canal Trail (WCT) volunteers who planned the Metamora Corn Maze are relieved, because it’s the corn maze that almost wasn’t.

The Maze Co., which designed it, told the volunteers to plant corn as late as possible to keep it green for October, said Mick Wilz, president of the Whitewater Canal Assoc.

“Then we hit the drought and nothing came up,” Wilz said. “In June it looked like we weren’t going to have anything. All the local farmers said, ‘Mick, you really screwed up – this is not going to grow.’

“Somebody was watching over us because it popped and now people say it’s the best corn in the county; everything else dried up.” The maze, which is eight times larger than a professional football field, was begun with a design by local artist Jim Suhre. That design was then translated into a planting layout by The Maze Co.

A replica of the Franklin County Courthouse clock tower is at the center of the maze and the total design is a tribute to Brookville’s bicentennial celebration next summer.

In the spring, corn was planted in both directions to prevent visibility from one row to the other. Once the corn was about waist-high, two area teenagers, Willy Wilz and Adam Kaiser, each volunteered about 90 hours cutting the corn to the specifications of the computerized layout.

Local pilot Gary Wolf, with Whitewater Publications, volunteered to go up in an airplane and photograph the finished product, Mick Wilz said.

You can get lost in the Metamora Corn Maze every weekend this October.

All proceeds go to the WCT, whose goal is to establish an accessible hike-bike trail along the old canal route between Brookville and Metamora.

The trail meanders between the Whitewater River and the canal. It goes through farmland, wooded areas and past the state champion hickory tree which stands in the farmyard of John and Inez Kolb. The trail construction project is the culmination of an effort begun 60 years ago when local residents saw the need to preserve the community of Metamora and the historical aspects of the Whitewater Canal.

“After being put on hold by WWII, work was finally resumed in the late 1980s and early 1990s when the Indiana Department of Natural Resources began to develop the trail,” Wilz said.

That group approached Franklin County residents to see if there was enough local support to complete the trail. The WCT was formed and work began.

Two years ago, when trail volunteers were brainstorming about ways to raise money, they realized they had little money but an abundance of corn. A trail volunteer owned a field of corn adjacent to the Trail Corridor and the volunteers realized that a corn maze might be the answer to a fundraising dilemma, Wilz said.

The maze is open from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. on weekends. It is one mile east of Metamora on U.S. Highway 52. The $5 fee goes to the WTC, and there is parking along the highway, or participants can take the train from downtown Metamora.

For information, visit www.metamoracornmaze.com