Local organization Friends of Green River Lake have had a corn maze every October for roughly the last 10 years.
The mazes are designed to commemorate Green River Lake and the surrounding community. The corn crops have been mowed into homages for the Army Corps of Engineers and the FFA emblem among others. This year, the design represents 100 years of Kentucky State Parks.
The Friends of Green River Lake are a non-profit organization that formed in 2010. Their mission is to charity and education. In addition to mowing off their annual corn mazes, they also sponsor and participate in other festivities throughout the year. Two weeks ago, they were at Green River Lake with the Corps of Engineers’ Fishing with a Veteran event that saw 10 fishermen join and 10 boat captains participate.
President of the Friends of Green River Lake, Sharon Abney, explained a few of their events they take part in. “We also help with the kids’ fishing derby down at the state park. We supply firewood to Holmes Bend Campground and Smith Ridge Campground, and that helps us bring in money to give to the state park and the (Army Corps of Engineers). And the biggest project we have so far is the fishing pier at Green River State Park, we helped fund that. Anything related to the lake area, we’re happy to help with the Corps and the State Park.”
As the group does not make a profit, their organization relies on donations. For the maze, “We have a local farmer, Mike Reynolds… they plant it for us and spray it,” Abney explained. “And then, we get Nutrien Ag and they will line it and fertilize it and stuff for us. And all that is donated. Our part in it… our guys will cut it.”
But cutting the maze this year has proven difficult for the Friends of Green River Lake. The maze is typically mowed on a zero-turn mower using GPS coordinates from the civil engineering company, Pitman Green, that creates the designs. But with such a deluge of rain during the home stretch before it opens to the public, shearing the 100th anniversary logo into the crop took longer than expected. The Friends were even forced to cancel the maze’s grand opening from September 28 due to weather.
“(It’s been) hectic. When the rain hit, that’s when we needed to mow. So we had to wait a couple weeks to be able to mow. It makes it a little harder,” Abney shared, saying that the mowing is typically done from the middle of summer through September, though it was not completed in time for the traditional grand opening.
Tomorrow, and Friday the labyrinth will get spooky when it becomes the Haunted Maze.
“We have Mark Twain Green River Lake Club and the Green River Shrine Club and they actually do the haunting of the maze,” Abney explained.
While the maze will only be Halloween-themed for those two days, it will be open from daylight to dark for the remainder of the month.
“It’s free to the public all the way through October. It’s just our way of giving the area something for free,” Abney said.
Walking the maze takes twenty minutes to half an hour and maps are provided at the start.
By Kenley Godby
kenley@adairvoice.com