Poet. Happy Dancer. Fighter pilot. Farm visitors across the country are finding a familiar figure amid winding labyrinths of stalks and silk. The world’s best-known beagle and friends will turn 75 next year, and farms across North America are celebrating in the corniest way.
More than 80 farms in the United States and Canada teamed up with Peanuts Worldwide to create Peanuts-themed corn mazes. The mazes celebrate the beloved comic strip’s upcoming birthday.
Peanuts debuted October 2, 1950. The adventures of Charlie Brown and his pals eventually ran in more than 2,600 newspapers and reached millions of readers in 75 countries.
The strip offers enduring images of Charlie Brown and his football, Lucy’s psychiatrist stand, Linus with his blanket, and Snoopy—who appeared two days after the first Peanuts strip—aboard his doghouse.
Now the world’s largest corn maze consulting company (yes, really), The MAiZE, Inc., is helping farmers celebrate. The company’s Peanuts mazes span 35 states and provinces and could attract more than two million visitors.
“All of these events help keep my dad’s legacy alive,” says Jill Schulz, daughter of Peanuts creator Charles M. Schulz.
MAiZE designs each maze for the size of the farm. Most are corn mazes, but two sunflower farmers are getting in on the Peanuts action too.
Most mazes feature crowd favorite Snoopy. In Thornton, Indiana, a massive Snoopy rests on his doghouse. He’s atop a pumpkin in Caledon, Ontario. There’s even a “Snoopy for Prez” maze this election year.
MAiZE founder Brett Herbst says technology hasn’t changed maze making much since his first one in 1996.
“We just used a weed whacker with a saw blade on it,” he says. “Now we do it when [the corn’s] short, and we go in and either mow it or rototill it.” Designers work on computers, Herbst admits. “But most of it we actually just go draw out on the ground by hand.”
Maze building is part art, part science. Designers hope to produce a recognizable and fun image—but also make a maze that people can actually get lost in.
Jill Schulz sees something timeless and exciting about corn mazes. She says they offer kids a chance to disconnect from their online lives and celebrate something their parents did.
“I think we all need a little . . . ‘put down your phone and go out and have some good old-fashioned, old-school family time,’” she says.
“It will be a thrill to see Charlie Brown, Snoopy, and the gang rising from the heartland,” Schulz says. “I just wish my dad could see his creations ‘writ large.’”
Why? It is often good to reflect on and celebrate what has gone before. God intends former things to lead to joyful, thankful, repentant, faith-filled hope about the future.
