CLOVERDALE — It’s the 19th season for Cloverdale’s popular Bose Corn Maze, and this year it’s been cut into the Vancouver Giants logo.
“Since I retired from coaching (hockey), I’m a seasons ticket holder with the Giants,” said operator Mike Bose. “I was just so impressed with their display of hockey last year, I just wanted to do something for them. So at the end of the playoffs, we asked them if we could do their logo for our corn maze, and they said ‘yep.’”
Bose said the Western Hockey League team — which announced it was making the move to Langley Events Centre in 2016 —was also excited to see the final product, when he sent them an aerial shot of the maze.
The family-run operation is ahead of schedule this year, he noted, with the maze set to open on Aug. 26.
“There’s corn that’s well over 10 feet,” said Bose. “I would say, on average it’s probably close to 12 feet. It turned out really well. The corn grew really, really well. The weather we had was good for corn. Hot, with showers, for the month of June.”
Last summer the corn maze has some of the busiest days it’s ever seen, he noted.
“We had only three hours of rain while we were open,” Bose said of 2017. “And people were really, really good. The corn didn’t take much of a beating, so the maze stayed solid right to the end and this year’s crop is even thicker and stronger than last year’s crop. It all depends on Mother Nature.”
(Video below by Amy Reid features the 2017 Bose Corn Maze in Cloverdale.)
The popular Cloverdale attraction boasts nearly one million stalks of corn on the 25-acre field, just off of 64th Avenue.
On average, it takes between 60 and 75 minutes to complete.
The maze isn’t created when planting seed, but instead, the maze is literally cut out of the cornfield when the stalks are about two inches tall.
“So we come up with a picture… and we have a designer in Utah that designs the trails to create the picture we’re after. Then we get that and we simply, two guys, and a can of spray paint go out in the field and count corn,” Bose said last summer, when the family decided to cut the maze into the shape of a Canada 150 stamp.
“We call it Canada’s largest piece of art because it is true art. There’s no measures used, there’s no GPS, it’s literally two guys and a can of spray paint,” he said.
See more: Cloverdale’s corn maze is ‘Canada’s largest piece of art’
(Mike Bose, operator of the Bose Corn Maze in Cloverdale. Photo: Amy Reid)
Why do people love corn mazes?
“I think the same reason people go on a roller coaster,” Bose mused. “People go on a roller coaster because of that loss of control and that rush of adrenaline is actually good for you. I think human nature is to every once in a while, let go of control and find your way.
“Or get completely lost,” he said laughing.
The Bose Corn Maze at 64th Avenue on 156th Street will run from Aug. 26 to Thanksgiving.
Visit Bosecornmaze.com for hours of operation and ticket pricing.
amy.reid@surreynowleader.com
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