By J.R. Munoz-McNally
Media General News Service

Getting lost has never been so much fun. The only thing that might top finding your way through the Amazing Maize Maze is watching others do so from atop one of the lookout towers at the site. 

Groups of maze-walkers are identified by different colored flags Sunday at the Amazing Maize Maze in Huntersville. The flags may be used to signal to maze staff that participants require assistance.

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From there, you can make out Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell and a bunch of stars.

Mark Vandivier looks askance when you ask him how he does it.

“It’s a trade secret,” he says.

He’s serious.

“And though I can’t tell you how it’s done, I can tell you it’s a lot of back-breaking work.”

Vandivier is the controller and one of the architects of the Amazing Maize Maze, which is held on a semi-regular basis at the Historic Rural Hill Plantation in Huntersville.

The maze currently in the middle of its two-month run is the sixth at the site since 1998.

Vandivier said every one of the mazes has had a historic theme. Past mazes have included corn-row renderings of Paul Revere’s famous ride, a log cabin and an ornate clock.

“This year we are celebrating the Constitution,” Vandivier said.

The paths of the maze are littered with cobs that have fallen in the past few months. But it’s easy to tell that it is no garden variety cornfield once you’re inside the maze.

“It takes a lot of time to get this just right,” Vandivier said. “Since July I’ve spent about half my time in this field, and even for me it can get tricky.”

Indeed, Vandivier said it can take up to two hours to navigate what is roughly a one-mile route.

“But that depends on how lost you get,” he said. “You can walk three or four miles or more.”

To Chris Nowak, a 9-year-old from Charlotte, who was hiking his way through the maze with mom, dad and other family members, not knowing where the heck you were is what the maze is all about.
“This is awesome,” he said. “The best part of it is getting lost.”

But this thing is not just for the kids.

“It’s a lot of fun,” said Cheryl Nowak, Chris’s mom. “It’s a fun kind of frustration because sometimes you can see where you want to go, but you don’t know how to get there.”

Vandivier said that “seeing where you want to go” partly a result of the arid conditions of the past two months.

“Last year at this time, we had stalks that were seven and eight feet high,” he said pointing out on growth that peeked out at about five feet.

Dustin Yonker mans one of towers in the maze.

“It’s easy to get lost,” he said. “And that’s why I’m here. I try to get people back on track.”

“Don’t go right,” Yonker yells out to a group of mazers.

“That means we should go right, doesn’t it?” one of them yells back.

“See, that’s what happens all the time,” Yonker explained. “People think I am steering them wrong to throw them off and I’m not.”

Brooke Powell, Mary Shey and Natalie Van Epps are members of adult sorority Sigma Phi Gamma. They were in competition with other members of the group to see who could navigate the maze the fastest.

“We’re going to win. The other team is way back there,” Shey said and pointed to another group of women maybe 25 yards away as the crow flies.

But crows don’t have to zig-zag their way through a maze.

Joe and Joy Dean were talked into tackling the maze by their daughter, who was part of a team that set the record by blazing through the tailored cornfield in 26 minutes.

But that group did not have to find all the pieces of a puzzle game that figures into the maze navigation.

“But we are going to find them all,” Joe said. “We’re not quitting until we do.”

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