When corn mazes first came on the scene in the 1990s, they were simplistic and geometric like the pencil-and-paper mazes of our childhoods. Lodi’s Treinen Farm is proof of how much they’ve evolved: In the past two decades, co-owner Angie Lathrop Treinen has designed mazes featuring everything from a giant trilobite to Schrödinger’s cat. From within each maze, it’s hard to think anything beyond, “How can I get out of here?” But from above, you can see that the 15-acre works are wildly impressive feats — even more impressive when you learn they’re cut by hand.
Treinen Farm first began exploring agritourism in 1991. While raising commodity crops, Angie’s husband, Alan Treinen, decided to plant a half-acre pumpkin patch on his 200-acre family farm. It was an attempt at diversification and, at the time, an unorthodox and risky idea.
“It was an immediate hit,” says Angie, “but families would stop coming once their kids got older.” The couple spent the next decade thinking of ways to appeal to all ages. They created their first corn maze — a simple horse and cart design — in 2001. That, too, was a resounding success…