Hayes Corn Maze is a farm that offers fun fall activities located about an hour south of Marquette in Rock, Michigan. 

“We are celebrating our 20th anniversary this year … It is just more popular now than ever. We have a lot of repeat customers, and now those customers are bringing their friends and family and their grandchildren back,” said Lenore Hayes, one of the owners of Hayes Corn Maze. 

Hayes Corn Maze has a variety of outdoor and indoor fall activities for all ages. There is a barn on the property where they house farm animals such as pigs, goats, pigeons and peacocks. The barn also has a straw tunnel maze. 

Outside there is a corn maze, a hay maze and a hayride that leads to a pumpkin patch. 

“We take a hayride to the outback, and that is where we have our giant pumpkin patch and two humongous slingers — we shoot apples at a boat that is floating in the water. It is a whole lot of fun, and we have animals back there you can feed,” said Hayes. 

People can pick their own pumpkins, while supplies last. However, they had such a surplus of pumpkins this season that they were giving five pounds of free pumpkin to the local community with every ticket sold. 

Tickets are $10, and they have a dollar off discount for NMU students, seniors, military and groups of 20 or more. 

“Even for college students [Hayes Corn Maze] was good because it was cheap to get into … It was a harder corn maze, so it was not super easy and they had activities inside the corn maze,” said Torri Boris, freshman nursing major who went to the corn maze earlier in the season. 

There are stations at different points in the corn maze that have trivia questions and a hole puncher to mark A, B or C on a little card they hand out before entering the maze. The punch card corresponds with letters that, once unscrambled, reveal the answer to the game.

“It was a little bit tougher this year but people were getting the answer correct, and I will post that at the end of the season on our website so people can find out what the final answer is,” said Hayes. 

The end of the season is quickly approaching and their final weekend is Oct. 30-31, as the weather is getting colder and snow is not far away. 

Hayes said they were blessed this year with amazing weather that made the outdoor events possible. 

“It was cold, it was windy, but it was perfect weather for a pumpkin patch,” said sophomore nursing major Sofia Aragones who also visited Hayes Corn maze earlier in the season. 

While Aragones had fun navigating the corn maze and going on the hayride, she noted that there were more activities geared towards little kids. 

“If there [were] more adult friendly things to do then I would definitely recommend [Hayes Corn Maze], but it was more for kids,” said Aragones. 

However, Boris and Aragones both thought that Hayes Corn Maze offered a good atmosphere for a fun fall day.