Sure it’s corny, but maze finds way to celebrate Manitoba 150
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 25/08/2020 (1957 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Deer Meadow Farms is celebrating Manitoba 150 by opening its corn maze Friday for the 12th consecutive year.
Some of this year’s turns and dead ends within the 10-acre maze outline the shape of a bison and an Indigenous hunter riding a horse.
Vince Rattai, owner of Deer Meadow Farms, said he picked the design about a year ago and it’s based off a childhood memory.
“I knew Manitoba 150 was coming, so I just had this picture — a flash, I call it — because I’m a visionary type,” said Rattai.
“I just had a flash of what do you do for Manitoba 150 and for me, as a kid, I remember the Manitoba Museum of Man and Nature, and the first thing you see when you walk in is the first peoples, and as a kid I always thought it’d be cool to ride a horse… it’d be cool to be a First Nation.”
Rattai is referring to the opening display at the Manitoba Museum: the buffalo hunt, which features an Indigenous hunter on horseback in pursuit of a buffalo.
The maze was cut using a GPS and a zero-turn mower with a preloaded design. It took two days to cut and two more to complete the trimming.
The theme of the corn maze this year is One Land, Many Nations. Rattai recognizes the farm is on Treaty 1 land that is now home to people from many different nationalities.
Six sign stations are also scattered throughout the maze, each asking a trivia question about the province.
While Manitoba 150 celebrations have been cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the maze will be open to the public. Rattai said day-to-day procedures within the maze won’t change from last year.
“In the actual corn maze there’s lots of room to keep physically distancing. It is 10 acres and however many thousand square feet, so you’ve got a lot of room in there for distancing,” he said. “It’s an outdoor activity, which offers the least amount of exposure and you’re not touching anything in there, you’re not touching corn stock, you’re not supposed to.”
Rattai said each year they design the maze to celebrate something in Manitoba, and this year was no different, when they teamed up with designer Brent Polson to celebrate the province’s 150th birthday.
In the past, Deer Meadow Farms cut and trimmed the layout to celebrate its 10th anniversary, Assiniboine Park Zoo’s Journey to Churchill exhibit and the Winnipeg Jets playoff Whiteout.
kellen.taniguchi@freepress.mb.ca
