American Loggers’ Pelletier brothers appearing at Corinna corn maze

Photo by Ron Apel, courtesy of Barbara Peavey

A logging truck and the names of the Pelletier family from American Loggers is cut into a corn field maze at Thunder Road Farm in Corinna.

By Alex Barber, BDN Staff

Posted Sept. 23, 2011, at 5:30 p.m.

CORINNA, Maine — A Pelletier Brothers logging truck found its way into a cornfield. Well, kind of.

For their eighth annual corn maze at Thunder Road Farm on Route 7, owners Charles and Barbara Peavey chose to have the “American Loggers” crew represented in their field.

“My husband is just a huge fan of their show,” Barbara Peavey said of the Discovery Channel television program, which follows the Pelletier Brothers Inc. logging company based in Millinocket.

The brothers and their families will visit the maze at noon Saturday, Oct. 15. They will be available for photos, autographs and to talk with fans. A rain date is set for Oct. 16. However, the maze is already open.

Each year, the Peaveys pick a different theme for their corn maze. Last year is was Nokomis Regional High School of Newport. They have also done Mike and Mike from KISS 94.5 in Bangor, a lighthouse and lobster, all 16 counties of the state and the Boston Red Sox twice.

This year, a logging truck is featured with AmericanLoggers.com etched above it and the names of the seven brothers below the truck. The maze spans seven acres.

“[The Pelletier brothers] fell right in love with the idea,” said Barbara Peavey.

Work on the maze started before Memorial Day, she said. Time is needed to devise a theme, get a design in place and get it approved.

“From start to finish, it’s quite a process,” said Peavey.

A Utah-based company called The MAiZE uses computers to design the maze from the specs of the Peaveys’ property.

“We give them the size of our field, spacing of the corn and they punch it into a computer. It comes up with a row count and we can go from there,” she said. “We actually spray it out with orange paint. We do this when the corn is about 3-4 inches tall so we can still see the ground.”

Roger Whitney of Corinna planted the corn for the Peaveys this year. He completed an all-day job in less than three hours.

Every year, an aerial photo is taken of the maze. One picture hangs in the Pelletier Brothers Family Restaurant in Millinocket.

“I think it’s awesome,” said Tina Pelletier, wife of Larry Pelletier. “I think it’s a nice tribute to them.”

Peavey said getting the designs approved by the Pelletiers was much easier than with some other projects.

“I started early [with the Boston Red Sox] and it took 3½ months to get permission [to use their logo],” said Peavey. “Lawyers had to get involved. It was quite a process. I signed a 15-page contract with them.”

In addition to the corn maze, Thunder Road Farm has other attractions aimed at kids and families, including hay rides, duck races, a tricycle track and a cow train, which is a 55-gallon drum painted like a cow with wheels that is hauled around by a four-wheeler.

“A lot of people, we find, can spend three to four hours here,” Peavey said. “It takes about 45 minutes to an hour to go through the maze, depending on how good you are. By the time you have lunch and go through the rest of the attractions, three hours can go by very easily.”

There is a shorter version of the maze for smaller children.

The maze and attractions are open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays and during the week by appointment only.

The maze and other attractions are $7 for ages 4 and up. Ages 3 and under are free. The cow train is an additional $1.50 a ride.

For Halloween, the Peaveys will also be having two haunted nights, Oct. 28-29.

The corn maze at Thunder Road Farm is one of many in Maine this fall.

Treworgy Family Orchards on Union Street in Levant has a four-acre maze in the shape of a leaping horse. The maze is open from 10 a.m. to dusk Tuesday-Sunday. Tickets are $5 for children and $6 for adults. Tickets include a free ice cream cone.

Other farms with corn mazes listed on the Maine Department of Agriculture website include Hart-to-Hart Farm in Albion, County Fair Farm in Jefferson, Sandy River Farms in Farmington, Alden Longfellow’s Greenhouse in Farmingdale, Ricker Hill Orchards in Turner, Roaring Brook Nurseries Farm and Garden Market in Wales, Harvest Hill Farms in Mechanic Falls, Chipman Farm Inc. in Poland Spring, Goughan Farms in Caribou, MSAD 1 Educational Farm in Presque Isle, McDougal Orchards LLC in Springvale and Pumpkin Valley Farm in Dayton.