A-maze-ing walk across Canada

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This article was published 23/08/2017 (3134 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

From Bonavista to Vancouver Island… this maze was made for you and me.

That’s the thinking behind Vince Rattai’s latest corn maze, developed especially for Canada’s 150th birthday celebration.

At his Deer Meadow Farms on Springfield Road, Rattai has mowed a corn maze in the shape of a map of Canada, complete with icons representing each province as well as the North (from the Arctic Circle to the Great Lake waters).

“My wife and I discussed it, and she kept pushing for this,” explained Rattai, a church pastor when he’s not running the Winnipeg area hobby farm that includes features such as a petting zoo, hay rides and a wild-game preserve for public viewing.

Once the corn was planted in criss-crossing rows, and the pattern determined with help from corn-maze designer Brent Polson, it was plotted using GPS. The engraving process entailed Rattai sitting on a mower cutting toward Polson, who held up a flag for each cut in the midst of the three-metre-high corn stalks.

“It’s a little like playing cat and mouse,” Rattai said.

Farm equipment dealers Enns Brothers sponsored the project by loaning a zero-turn lawn mower for the job.

Canada 150 marks Rattai’s eighth maze. His previous works include a Winnipeg Jets design, Investors Group Field and a spider web.

“This is definitely one of our most ambitious creations,” he said.

Icons on the map of Canada maze include mountains for British Columbia, an oil rig for Alberta, wheat for Saskatchewan, two lakes and a river for Manitoba, the Parliament buildings for Ontario, a beaver for Quebec, fishing boat for the Maritimes and a polar bear for the North.

The maze should take from a half-hour to an hour for an adult to walk, Rattai said.

Deer Meadow Farms, which played host to some 15,000 visitors last year, is in the midst of a move to a new, bigger location. It was previously on Deacon Road, southeast of Winnipeg, but is now located at 21 – 155 Springfield Rd. in the RM of Springfield, northeast of the city.

Moving has included dismantling and reassembling fencing, bathrooms and concession stands, Rattai said. He hopes to reopen the farm Sept. 2, but visitors are advised to first check its website deermeadowfarms.com.

bill.redekop@freepress.mb.ca