New Moon Corn Maze

If you love fall farm activities like pumpkin patches, hay rides and finding your way through corn mazes, then you'll probably be excited about the New Moon attraction - a huge New Moon corn maze at Black Island Farms in Syracuse, Utah.

New Moon Official Site

New Moon is one of the Twilight series of movies released by Summit Entertainment on November 20, 2009. Since Twilight, the first movie in the series, was released on November 21, 2008, the interest and popularity in the novels and the movie series has grown unabated. As the 2009 Halloween season approached, the owners of Black Island Farms found inspiration in the popularity of Twilight and decided to create an impressive twenty-four acre corn maze featuring two main actors from the movie. Cornfield MAiZE manager Dorathy Black Law (also the daughter of the farm owner) sat down with LoveToKnow Movies for an exclusive interview about the New Moon corn maze.

LTK: In September 2009, the official New Moon website published a story about your corn maze, and it looks huge! How big is it?

DBL: It is! We are the largest in Utah at twenty four acres. We also have a courtyard, which is five acres. It has giant slides, farm animals, pig races - all kinds of activities.

LTK: How big is the farm itself?

DBL: The whole farm is about 450 acres.

LTK: How did you come up with the idea to do this?

DBL: When corn mazes first came out, it was such a new novelty. Now that they're established as a seasonal attraction, it's just hard to get media attention or the interest of the public. We realized the movie New Moon was about to be released in November, so we thought we'd give it a try. It's been awesome, we've actually gotten worldwide coverage - Australia, New Zealand - a lot of international blogs and even Scottish TV and a few fun things like that, so it's been really neat.

LTK: Are you personally a huge fan of the Twilight series?

DBL: *laugh* I am now! I actually have not read the books. I watched the movie and a want to read it, but it's been so busy. I keep telling myself I need to put it on my iPod so I can listen to it. My kids are all big fans. Summit [Entertainment] mentioned that one reason they agreed to do it is because Salt Lake City has the largest fan base of the Twilight film in the United States.

LTK: So you actually had to get permission from Summit Entertainment?

DBL: Well, I had to get Summit Entertainment's. Then, with their contract, they (Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner) had to okay the design. I was actually a little worried about that because I thought, you know, it's a corn maze. It really turned out good. Last year we actually did Ronald McDonald, because we work with McDonald House charities. The year before we did David Archuleta from American Idol, because he's from Utah. His picture actually turned out looking kinda like Ronald McDonald! So, when you do people it's kind of hard to get them out, but I think we did a really good job and it really turned out in their likeness.

LTK: How do you build such a large corn maze like this one?

DBL: Normally you plot in one direction, but when we plot the corn for the maze we plot it in two directions. We cross-plot it so that it essentially forms a grid. And then when the corn just barely pops up we flag it a certain way to make it easier for us. We design the picture so that it fits our field, and then we walk with sort of like upside down spray cans, and we're literally spraying the design onto the field. And then we walk that line with a backpack sprayer that makes about a four-foot trail. On average it takes us about two days, but on our very first field we did it took my husband about two weeks, which was very stressful. It was difficult, but we've learned tricks. And now my sixteen year old son and my husband spray it.

LTK: So it's a father-son activity?

DBL: Yes, my son vows that he's faster than my husband and that makes my husband mad! But, yeah, this is a family farm. We've been in business for fifty years and this is actually the fifth year that we've been in the corn maze business.

LTK: So is this event going on for the entire month of October?

DBL: Yes, about six weeks. We run from the middle of September and then through Halloween. We also have a haunted house so we hit a different crowd. Ours is an indoor and outdoor haunt. We turned an old onion shed into a haunted house, and it actually starts inside and then goes outside into a section of the corn maze and then comes back and finishes inside. We only do that on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

LTK: Do you find that it's mostly people from the local area coming, or are there folks from further out coming to see the maze?

DBL: Yeah, we've had some people from Colorado, Idaho, and Arizona come here and visit because of the design. You know, just all of the fans and their kids. In our area it's mostly local, but we do reach out to about 50 miles around here. There are other mazes in the area, and some of those people also come over to ours because ours is a little larger. We offer some different things because we're a working farm, while others are in an industrial area with rented ground and just don't have the sort of full experience that we offer.

LTK: How is the experience at your farm different than the other, more industrial ones around?

DBL: Well, we try to educate as well as entertain. We do pumpkin patch hayrides, which takes you through a small section of the farm and everyone picks a pumpkin. We tell a little bit about the history of the farm and why we do agri-tourism - that's the new word for it - and why we've done that to try to preserve the open space. You know, we say we grow vegetables, not houses. And we're trying, we're fighting hard but it's been tough. Our prices are eight to twenty [dollars] depending on what you want to do. Some people think, oh my gosh you're making a ton of money, but if you look at the amount of employees we have to have we're doing okay, but when you base the majority of your income on six weeks it's rough.

LTK: So the farm has been running for fifty years, could you share a little bit about the history?

Black Island Farms

DBL: Yes, it is actually on my side of the family. My grandpa and my dad bought the farm. They started the farm to provide the family with fresh vegetables during the season. We actually used to farm about 1200 acres. We slowly had to downsize just to compete with some of the big farmers back west and with imports, but it's so hard. And now, with all of the cases of E. Coli and the focus on organics, it's very hard - you can't compete. So, really the trend has been this agri-tourism and agri-tainment type thing. Other farmers are bringing people in for all kinds of different events to try to subsidize income.

LTK: So you find that events like these are keeping you above water?

DBL: Yes, they are. We've actually downsized on our staff. During the winter it's just myself, my husband, my dad and one other manager. We have to lay everyone off, which has been rough, but we've got loyal employees - they come back every year. It's funny, they quit and find somewhere that pays more, but they come back because we're more flexible and it's more fun - you know it's just a more relaxed environment.

LTK: It sounds like such a fun place and a great event.

DBL: Yeah, it's a lot of fun - I wouldn't change it. I hope we can keep going, you know, that's our goal. The weather's a big issue for us too because we're so susceptible to bad weather. This year's been good. We've only had to shut down one day. Last year was great. The year before we were only open two out of six weekends. I really wish we could have arranged for some sort of fun event down here. I would have loved to have one of the actors or Stephanie Meyers down here.

LTK: Well, maybe as more New Moon fans hear about it, you'll get even more public interest in the event then you have now.

DBL: Yes, that would be absolutely great!

LovetoKnow Movies would like to thank Dorathy and the entire Black family for putting on this wonderful New Moon event for the folks of Utah and surrounding areas. If you live near Syracuse, Utah or plan to be in the area, visit the Black Island Farms website and look up the directions. Take some time to visit this fantastic yearly event and help support this family owned farm with a long and wonderful history.

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