Illinois

Running an A-maze-ing Farm

By Kathy Barnett

Managing Editor

The Richardson Farm in Illinois is known to have one of the largest mazes in the United States. However, that is not the beginning of the story. Since 1836, five generations of the Richardson family have been involved in running the farm. Originaly a dairy farm, George and his brother, Robert, now manage the operations on the 400-acre property. “When my parents took ownership in 1947, they bought the adjoining farm and switched to raising pigs.” said George. “My dad concentrated on growing the business and built new buildings until he was raising 3000 pigs. There were new pigs being born every day.” The crops they raised were corn and soy beans. The corn was fed to the pigs and the soy beans were used as an additive for protein and vitamins. When George returned home from college to live and work full time, his brother was already living there with his family. With three families to support now, their dad began to look for other avenues of income. His philosophy was always “What’s next? Things might not last forever.” He knew there was no control over if or when the hog market could drop.

There were ten acres not being used at the time and they decided it would be a good place to grow Christmas trees. The farm is close enough to Chicago, to market a “Cut-Your-Own-Tree” attraction. One thousand trees were planted and in 1986 they sold their very first tree. They handed out hot chocolate to customers and made it a festive and fun activity. “My brother and I say it’s much better than raising pigs,” George said. “Hey, we sure like talking with people a lot more than talking with the pigs.”

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Richardson Farm - continued

The Richardson brothers really enjoyed the social aspect of the tree business. They liked interacting with the customers who visited. After joining the National Christmas Tree Association to learn more about raising and selling the trees successfully, their business quickly grew. They soon slid out of pig production. 2003 was the last year for the pigs. With the expansion of their Christmas tree business, they began looking for other options to add to their farm. Corn mazes were just coming into the U.S. at that time, George eplained. “I saw one in a magazine and it was just a brand new idea to have one of our own. I attended the Wisconsin Sesquicentennial in 1998 and they had one. Such a neat idea.” George attended a marketing seminar to learn more about the mazes and decided this would be their next farm attraction. He met his future partner at that seminar. Shawn Stolworthy from Idaho provides the technology to custom design each maze. His company MazePlay.com creates an accurate pattern so what you see on paper is what your maze will actually look like in the field. “We still decide the theme each year,” said George. “And then Sawn designs it for us.” The first Richardson Farm corn maze was introduced in 2001. And so their farm tourism concept was off to a good start. Each year different activities and attractions have been added to create the adventure farm you experience today.

There is a huge pumpkin patch, wagon rides, a train ride, pedal carts and jumping pillows. An ORBiting attraction allows you to ride inside a giant 11-foot ball to bounce down the slope. There is even a 700 foot zip line!

There is a picnic area, a play area, a corn bin cabin and a live pig race show. You can actually spend the whole day with all the things to do. Each of the three families have their own projects and responsibilities and then they join together with their marketing efforts. George tributes his dad for having the experience and knowledge to put the productivety into place.

In celebration of 20 years for the maze, this year’s image includes their barn, observation tower, and tulips, one of their newes attractions. Brother Robert and his wife Carol saw an article about a lady in Washington planting a tulip farm and show garden. Last fall they imported 300,000 bulbs from Holland and created five acres of color for a spring tulip festival. This and a sunflower area completes a yearround attraction.

The family continues to expand the tree area, now holding 12-13 thousand seedlings. Features are continually added to the corn maze. A new Mega giant slide was just added to the play area. “We want to make it a commitment to drive to the farm, they have to have a full stisfying experience, or they won’t come back or tell friends share story,” said George. His son bought into the business in 2007, so the sixth generations is in place, he added. The future holds new ideas and additions to the farm will come. For tickets and more information, visit https:// richardsonadventurefarm.com/