By by Connie Nowlin
Managing Editor
Next time someone tells you to get lost, head to Bratt, Fla.
"You're going to get lost out there. If you didn't get lost, it wouldn't be any fun out there," said Colvin Davis, owner of the A-Maize-ing Cornfield. Carved into the five-acre field is a maze.
"I read an article in Progressive Farmer two or three years ago. I was interested, but had to get up the nerve to do it."
Now it is more profitable to the farmer than the corn crop itself was.
Davis and his son, Tommy Davis, and daughter, Debbie Hester, plotted the maze on graph paper.
"It was a lot of work to come up with it, but we drafted it out," Davis said. "This year we made it harder, more enjoyable. It was too simple last year."
Then the pattern is cut into the field when the corn is young.
Davis' daughter looked up information on the maze craze on the Internet. The more elaborate mazes are in the Midwest, where larger cornfields make more complex designs possible.
The A-Maize-ing Cornfield is designed with a lot of dead ends.
"It is pretty elaborate," Davis said. "You'll meet yourself out there."
It takes about an hour to complete the trip through the maze.
And heat has not been a problem yet, since the field is open in the evening . Flashlights are recommended, though.
And many people wind up coming out through the entrance. Davis said one family came out the in gate three times.
"But nobody has hollered for help yet. We can lead them out if they need it."
Davis said that a lot of church groups have reserved the field in upcoming days.
One of those groups is the youth group from Eastern Shore Baptist Church. Tim Rhoades is youth minister at the church, near Spanish Fort.
"We wanted to do it for a couple of reasons," Rhoades said. "We try to offer a variety of things, and there is a novelty about a corn maze.
"One night is a mystery night. We don't tell the kids anything, just load them up and take them somewhere. This kind of fit in with the mystery theme. And it is out of the ordinary, fun and interesting for them."
The field is open 5-10 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday on Highway 4. Admission is $5 and children under five are admitted free. Concessions are available.
For more information or to reserve the field for private groups Monday-Wednesday, you may call 1-850-327-6372.