UPDATE: Final Season for One of Lansing’s Superior Corn Mazes

Here's the update, the final two weekends of the Bestmaze Corn Maze. It's sad to see them have to close up shop. There's good news though! Mark Benjamin, the creator and owner is the guy in the middle. Had the opporutinity to speak with him on air and get a final quote from Mark before they head into the final two weekends. GO SUPPORT! I look forward to what's in store for the future, it should be fun, read below.

From Mark to YOU:

As we near the final day of Bestmaze Corn Maze in Williamston we are trying to focus on 22 years of providing the best quality maze we could for Michigan.   When we started our name was Maze-n-Market.  We had some vegetables etc. we sold on the side that first year.   The response was so good we quit the small vegetable stand and concentrated on the maze.  And after we heard, people keep saying to us to change our name to Best Corn Maze, we adopted the Bestmaze Corn Maze name instead.   It has been a pleasure to design for people a quality maze with good flow and take the huge amount of extra work to hand rake 3 miles of trails every year so they shed water and also so people with mobility issues had a maze they could go to.  It put a lump in our throat to hear people with cerebral palsy say this was the only corn maze they could do.  And when you sit on a tower to oversee the public going through the maze it also gave a sense of pride that we went through the extra work and have seen wheelchairs and blind people with white canes navigate our maze.

We are focusing on those 22 years.  Focusing on the problem of a pipeline making our parking lot unusable for 2 years and everything being taken away is just too painful.

Bestmaze will continue for the public elsewhere.  Cottage Gardens in Lansing wants us to design for them in 2023; their 100^th anniversary.  They want the famous maze flow and they have the staff numbers to keep the trails in same condition Michigan has come to expect at Bestmaze. Bestmaze II will open in 2023 on the south side of Lansing.  Other locations to the east are considering having Bestmaze design for them as well.  See our website next fall for all the details.  We will no longer own or operate a corn maze.  Just design the best maze we can as we have done for 22 years, but not staff it.

From Bestmaze, THANK YOU for the support!   The stories people have left in our guestbooks this year; the maze designer and family will cherish forever. It has been a pleasure to see hundreds of first dates happen here, and some of them even turn into a marriage proposal here a year or two later.  The family traditions of coming here for over 10 years and some even 15 years and 20 years as a family warm our hearts. My granddaughters are now just old enough to go through a maze.  They will not remember our maze.  But if you see a grey-haired couple going through the maze at Cottage Gardens next year with BESTMAZE CORN MAZE STAFF  on a black hat; with 2 beautiful little girls; say hi.

I cannot close out this chapter of our lives without mentioning our staff over the 22 years. Bestmaze would have never been Bestmaze without them.  The ticket booth, parking lot, maze cops, and haunt crew were the best; except TJ and Matt....but we will forget about them. It takes dedication to sit on a tower in a cold wind so hundreds of people can enjoy going through the maze knowing help is there if needed.  And our haunt crew, became family.  It was a huge moment when my daughters guestlist for the wedding had maze staff listed under "family" not "friends".    We had the best crew one could ask for.  We could literally turn the maze over to our crew and go tend to the farm and harvest crops while the ticket booth and all were in good hands.

We will miss the crew and meeting the public.  But we will adjust our lives and continue to make sure Mid Michigan gets the Bestmaze experience for a few years to come.

 

20 years of dreams and hard work come to an end.

That's what Bestmaze Corn Maze owner Mark Benjamin told me when I spoke with him on the phone regarding the sad news that 2022 will be Bestmaze Corn Maze's final season. You can find them at 3803 Noble Rd. in Williamston for one last hurrah.

This makes me sad. Bestmaze Corn Maze is one of Mid Michigan's favorite corn mazes and haunted attractions. They've been doing it for 20+ years, which means they've been doing something right. When fall arrives and the pumpkin spice is flowing, people start planning their fall activities, and Bestmaze Corn Maze will definitely come up in conversation.

Bestmaze's History

Let's take at trip back in time. Bestmaze opened in 2001 with a Great Lakes theme carving a lighthouse, freighter, and hot air balloon into the maze. Over the years they have had different themes like space, cruise ships, knights and dragons, King Tut and so many more.

The final maze will be awesome! They are going out on top with a Viking theme. Expect long ships, ravens, Vikings, swords, shields and so much more.

Why is 2022 the final season at Bestmaze Corn Maze?

Here's the deal. A cross-state gas pipeline project will put an end to Mid Michigan’s favorite corn maze.

The big $550 million pipeline will run from Chelsea to Ovid. It is going to cross the farm where Bestmaze's corn is grown, and it will also eliminate most of the parking. That's no good. The trench for the pipeline is huge; it's 14 feet wide and 8 feet deep. It will cut a mile-long gash through the farm.

Once construction begins, it will be impractical for the operation of the maze.

During my conversation with Mark, he broke it down for me. He's tried his best to save the maze. He loves what he does. Well done sir, thank you for the fun times and memories.

Bestmaze continues to give back despite 2022 being the final season!

That's how amazing this place is. Even during their final season, they've still found a way to give back to the community. A new food truck will be onsite and all food truck profits will fund the truck to become a traveling soup kitchen for the Lansing area this winter.

Top notch!