A Maze in Corn opened its annual snow maze on Saturday, January 29 after weather delayed their original start date by a week.
The maze is celebrating its twenty-fifth anniversary this year with their most over-the-top maze experience yet, bringing together local artists and makers to wow families and guests from all across Manitoba.
Home to the Guinness Book of World Record’s largest snow maze, the venue north of St. Adolphe offers a unique and family-friendly atmosphere where you can enjoy a walk through the maze, play jenga with wooden blocks, group-snowshoe (five people on one set of wooden plank “snowshoes”), climb the hay bale pyramid, toboggan (sleds provided), warm up by the bonfires, and take in a fire-juggling show and other entertainment—all for the price of admission.
Extra activities are available for additional fees, such as the horse-drawn sleigh ride and giant luge (a truly huge sled run). Mini donuts, hot chocolate, and adult refreshments can be found at the snack shack or snow bar.
It takes approximately 45 minutes to navigate one’s way through the maze at a leisurely pace, taking time to find all five snow buildings. The five buildings each showcase a different theme: an “animal cracker” house, movie theatre, church, Valentine’s, and winter wonderland room.
Proof of vaccination is required to enter, and masks are required in certain locations throughout the venue, such as inside all pathways and snow buildings because of the likelihood of being closer than six feet to others.
Owners Clint and Angie Masse host the family-friendly attraction, which started off as a fall corn maze and now offers entertainment nearly year-round.
Unpredictable Weather
This year they were intending to open the snow maze on Sunday, January 23, but were delayed by several logistical challenges, including the weather.
“It looks like everybody is having fun. It was a great turnout for our first day,” says Angie. “However, today is a very beautiful winter day, especially after the last five weeks it seems, which was one blizzard after another.”
Snow is obviously integral to building a snow maze, but Angie says there was just so much of it recently that it ended up causing problems.
“This year we’ve had way more snow than last year, but it actually ends up being in the way,” she says. “It is certainly beautiful because it paints a picture everywhere you look, but in terms of being a help to us? Not really!”
The logistics of building the snow maze began weeks ago. As they prepared to open, staff had to continually clear away the snow Mother Nature kept dumping. Keeping the maze paths clear is crucial to the safety of guests and their ability to enjoy the maze.
Angie also sees the highway conditions as a challenge for people to overcome to get out to their St. Adolphe location.
“It took us two days just to blow out the snow from the snow maze after all those days of big storms,” says Angie. “The best scenario would be just nice little sprinkles of snow, which is pretty and sets the stage for a nice winter day, but obviously too much snow and it makes it hard for people to get out here. We have the machinery to move it and push it and get it to where it needs to go. And now that the build is done, then it’s easier to focus on just that.”
Angie is also focused on enjoying the snow maze season, despite being hampered by the province’s ongoing public health restrictions which cap the outdoor venue at a maximum of 250 people.
While the safety of her guests is the priority, the business could certainly use a boost by lifting the maximum attendance if at all possible.
“With COVID, we are limited. We can only have 250 people here,” she says. “We are looking forward to the future. It’s been two years running the corn maze, haunted forest, sunflower exhibit, and snow maze under restrictions and it’s a challenge, because 250 people just doesn’t seem like very many people. For us, with the snow maze, because we only have so many weekends in a season.”
Angie says the snow maze is only viable for a short window of time. They expect to be open for the month of February and into the beginning of March, but how long they can stay open is really unpredictable.
“The first year, we made it to about the third weekend in March, but last year everything melted early. We had an early spring so we only had one weekend in March.”
New Maze, New Experience
The Masses would love for as many people as possible to enjoy the maze because of the amount of work that goes into it every year. They spend a lot of time designing the maze differently, so that each year return customers are treated to a new experience.
“Everybody is just always amazed that we somehow make it bigger and better every year,” Angie says. “With the maze, we change the maze every year. We make the buildings and carvings different every year, so that way if you come again and make it your tradition to come to the snow maze, it’s going to be different.”
Local artists and makers also contribute to the world-class experience A Maze in Corn is able to offer.
Local designer Glen Paavola helped design the maze, as he has done for A Maze in Corn’s haunted forest and other attractions.
Award-winning snow sculptor Lyle Peters, who has been sculpting snow for more than 25 years, is the creator behind the beautiful church at the centre of the maze; his work has been featured at Festival du Voyageur.
John Wade’s 30 years of ice sculpture artistry skills add a signature touch to many features in the snow maze’s rooms.
Allan Fogg, a former art director and graphic designer, has competed in snow sculpting for over 15 years and contributed his talents to this year’s maze.
From animals to trees, pulpits and pews, to ice hearts and giant “diamond” rings, sourcing staff and artists to craft the walls, structures, and add artistic detail takes an enormous amount of energy and becomes a labour of love.
And love is certainly the right word. The impressive atmosphere is so fun and memorable that last year A Maze in Corn was the site of at least one marriage proposal.
Angie says she wouldn’t be surprised if it happened again this year since they are open over Valentine’s Day. The church at the heart of the maze, with its shimmering ice-block backdrop and pulpit, seems to beg for the lucky couple to return, ready for an iconic Canadian wedding.
“We’re actually waiting and wanting to host something like that! Yes, we would absolutely be open to it,” says Angie, laughing. “It’s a small room, but of course weddings have to be small anyway right now, so why not make it super memorable? Call us!”
Tribute to Staff
While COVID has presented some challenges for their business, Angie credits their staff for keeping them afloat.
“We have amazing staff. They are so helpful. They put up with us, working long hours, and it’s such a team effort,” says Angie, getting emotional. “Just returning staff, that’s what does it. And the new ones we add in are fantastic. They learn from the veterans. It’s my staff. That’s what gets me through.”
Longterm employees are a hallmark of any successful business—employees like Monique Leclaire, the “grandma to the petting zoo,” who has worked at A Maze in Corn since it first opened.
The business has a special connection for Leclaire as it is located on her family’s homestead land.
“Monique takes good care of our animals in the summer and then, of course, in the winter, she can’t get enough,” Angie says. “She helps out with the sleigh rides. She helps out with everything.”
Out in Force
Families and guests of all ages were out in full force on the first Saturday of the season.
Makara Wiens and Alliyah Kowalson have been best friends since childhood and like to have fun exploring Manitoba in each other’s company. They have been to A Maze in Corn to enjoy the corn maze and the sunflower exhibit, but this was their first time checking out the snow maze.
Taking a moderate pace, it took them approximately 30 minutes to see four out of the five buildings in the maze. They said they were impressed by the attention to detail in each building and they already know this is one outdoor activity they’ll add to their winter to-do list again and again.
“It’s so cool,” says Alliyah. “I think they were so creative to build an animal-themed building, and a Valentine’s Day building, and a movie theatre. I would never have thought to build a movie theatre.”
Makara agrees. “It’s a new thing to do in winter, ‘cuz not everyone can skate and not everyone likes to go down a hill on a sled. It’s something that brings everyone together outside and I think it’s really important to be outside even in the winter when it’s cold. I think you appreciate it a lot more, especially with everything going on. It’s so good for your mental health to be outside.”
“I feel like it’s so Canadian, too, to have a maze made out of snow,” says Alliyah. “Like, nowhere else would do this.”
