
- This year’s design at Jacob’s Corn Maze
By MIKE NORTON
What a wonderful weekend we had here in Traverse City! Usually this is the time of year when things quiet down - kids are going back to school and everybody knows there’s time for one more “last hurrah” on Labor Day. But the last few weekends have been amazing, between the warm summery weather and the scores of new festivals and celebrations - the Traverse City Wine & Art Festival, the Third Coast Bicycle Festival and the Traverse City Summer Microbrew & Music Festival.
And there’s more coming soon - including a bigger, better version of the Michigan Schooner Festival on Sept 10-12, the Detroit Red Wings Training Camp (Sept. 18-21) and NHL Prospects Tournament (Sept. 11-15) and an all new community festival in Acme on Sept. 24-25 I’ll give you some updates on those next week, but in the meantime it’s hard to ignore that fall is, ahem, on its way.
Although we’re weeks away from the real color change, you can already see a touch of early red and orange on some of the trees. I looked down the beach last night and saw a solitary poplar lit by the setting sun that was just blazing gold. The peaches and apples in the Old Mission orchards are getting riper each day. And just the other morning I saw that Jacob’s Corn Maze is open for business.
I don’t know if you’ve been up to Jacob’s yet, but it’s a wonderful; addition to our fall lineup. Mike Witkop and his family have turned their 19th-century farm west of town into a corn maze, converting 10 acres of corn - an area as large as 10 football fields — into a massive labyrinth with three distinct trail systems. Once inside, visitors are free to lose themselves on 4.5 miles of winding, twisting paths whose green cornstalk walls are 6 to 10 feet high. Witkop named the place Jacob’s Corn Maze in honor of his great grandfather, a Dutch sea captain who settled here in 1892.
Although farm kids have always enjoyed getting themselves lost in cornfields, the advent of the high-tech corn maze is a relatively recent phenomenon — the first was created in Pennsylvania in 1993 - but they’ve been quickly spreading across the American heartland. Farmers typically pay a professional maze-maker to create a customized labyrinth that changes from year to year, often incorporating a design that can be seen only from the air. (This year’s design at Jacobs features a T. Rex and an erupting volcano.)
Some mazes include puzzles, treasure maps or other enhancements - Jacob’s has included a new mystery game this year called Farm Scene Investigation (FSI). (There is a link on their website to a YouTube video that sets the stage for the experience.
One of the things I really like about Jacob’s is that they’re already running several fundraisers for local charities. Last weekend they held a special “Amazing Race” event for Bethany Kids, and on each weekend in September, they donate a dollar out of every paid admission to a different charity — Single Momm, Child & Family Services, Operation Christmas Child and the Father Fred Foundation.
Jacob’s Corn Maze is open five days a week until Oct. 31. Hours are 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Wednesday and Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Thursdays, Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Sunday from 1-7 p.m. The farm is at 7100 E. Traverse Highway (M-72 west) 3.5 miles west of Traverse City. Admission is $8 for adults, $5 for children 3-11 and free to children under 3. (They also have special $7 rates for groups of 20 or more.
For more information, log on to www.jacobs-corn-maze.com or call 231-632-MAZE.






















I was born in Traverse City in 1953. I was born at the Osteopathic Hospital, which has been the Elks Lodge for years now…I LOVE TRAVERSE CITY!!!! I moved from Michigan in 1979 but still love to come back to visit family and friends…some of who are in T.C. my family farm is between Mesick and Copemish so I can still “go home” once a year. I was back there in May but am trying to figure out how to get back there again this fall for the color. I hope I make it!!!!
As a member of the Plein Air painting group of our ARTCENTERTC, I’ll be painting at the Nature Center this Thursday afternoon. Your photos and blog are very interesting and beautiful Good work!!! Thank you.