If you build it, they will come.
Longtime local farmer Dick Swank must have been coaxed by these
ethereal words four years ago, when he took a chance on a corn maze
to supplement his struggling farming business.
With his farm’s financial future hanging in the balance, a
friend suggested he look at a corn maze in Woodland
– that something similar could be the thing he needed to turn
his luck around.
If you build it, they will come.
Longtime local farmer Dick Swank must have been coaxed by these ethereal words four years ago, when he took a chance on a corn maze to supplement his struggling farming business.
With his farm’s financial future hanging in the balance, a friend suggested he look at a corn maze in Woodland – that something similar could be the thing he needed to turn his luck around.
“For a little farmer it’s very hard to survive,” said Bonnie Swank, his wife and designer of the maze. “This was a gamble.”
But the gamble paid off and the Swank Farm 15-Acre Great Corn Maze is in its fourth year and going strong.
The first year’s maze was over an eight acre parcel of land and “was horrible,” because that year the rain turned it into a mud-fest and they were still working out the kinks of operating something of such great magnitude, Bonnie said.
Even with the all the hardships, they didn’t lose money on the venture and saw the maze’s potential to evolve into something great.
With a little luck and a lot of planning, the second year’s maze attendance doubled and each year after has grown by about a third, she said.
“We’ve become synonymous with Halloween,” she said.
This year’s opening night, which was Sept. 26, enticed 600 children to peruse the almost six miles of maze pathways. Some children spend the entire evening scurrying through the maze and braving the Swank’s scariest venture yet – the Conover Mystery Ranch.
The Conover Mystery Ranch was constructed in 2001 when the Swanks entered into collaboration with a Bay Area company called Scream Works. The volunteer-comprised organization produces theatrical events classified as dark entertainment but are still appropriate for all ages.
The haunt, which is located at the far right end of the maze, was rated as one of the scariest haunts in the Bay Area by Haunted Bay Magazine, Bonnie said.
While it’s not recommended for small children, they don’t place an age limit on it because they feel that’s the parent’s decision to make.
There have been small children that have gone through the haunt without any problems and there are adults who won’t even step foot into the corn. It all depends on the individual, Bonnie said.
Controlling the crowds of people, especially rambunctious children, has been one of the most challenging aspects they’ve encountered.
By constructing strictly contained areas, and with the added presence of a sheriff’s deputy on the weekends it’s much more of a controlled environment now, Bonnie said.
“I’m the maze Nazi,” she joked.
Maintaining the maze has become a year-long endeavor, which Bonnie now works full time on. The production of planting the corn, coming up with a new design every year, cutting the corn into the maze and everything else that goes into pulling it off is hard work, she said.
And every year, it seems, they add something new. This year, for the first time, they’re having a goat walk and a pumpkin slingshot contest.
The ugly pumpkins no one ever wants to buy can be put into two giant slingshots and catapulted into the field at targets.
Seeing the faces of throngs of people enjoying themselves is worth all the work, they said.
“There’s not a lot to do in Hollister,” Bonnie said. “We look out and people are just having fun. We didn’t know how much fun it would be.”
The maze is open to the public Monday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to midnight, and Sunday 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. It is $10 to go through the maze at night, $8 during the day, and $14 to go through the maze and the haunt. Children under 5 are free.
