I’d wanted to see Maize Quest Fun Park for some time, ever since writing stories about both Hugh McPherson, the “Maze Master” and one of the family owners, and Dave Phillips, the resident maze designer.

Between Hugh’s charisma and Dave’s design skills, I figured the New Park, Pa., farm and agritourism operation must be on the cutting edge of farm marketing.

And it is – I think. It was hard to tell because the whole place was buried under, like, 2 feet of snow. I went there in early February, with a couple of busloads of visitors from the North American Farmers’ Direct Marketing Association. We were between huge snowstorms, so at least we were able to get out on the roads – though the entire countryside was buried.

No matter. Hugh and his employees must have shoveled a mountain’s worth of snow to prepare for us, and we still managed to learn a lot about how his operation works. With all of its indoor and outdoor activities, Maize Quest Fun Park has turned itself into a daylong destination. Families will stay there for hours, eat a couple of meals, spend a lot of money – even though the farm is basically in the middle of nowhere.

Watch the video below to hear more about how they do it.

Ready, fire, aim
Hugh McPherson, Maize Quest Fun Park

Events Calendar

Feb. 21-23, 2010
Pesticide & Ag Plastics Stewardship 10th Annual Conference
Hyatt Regency Hotel, Savannah, Ga.
Contact: Kevin Neal
Phone: 765-494-1585
E-mail: nealk@purdue.edu

Feb. 22, 2010
USDA GAP Audit Training
1 p.m., Northwest Michigan Horticultural Research
Station, Traverse City
Phone: 800-292-2653

Feb. 23-26, 2010
Hudson Valley Commercial Fruit Growers School
Holiday Inn, Kingston, N.Y.
Contact: Michael Fargione
Phone: 845-691-7117
E-mail: mjf22@cornell.edu
Web site: hudsonvf.cce.cornell.edu

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