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Kalan Hooks, ESPNSep 28, 2024, 11:15 AM ET
As Loretta and Todd Benjamin sat in a room full of strangers and watched the Detroit Lions win their first playoff game since the 1991 season on a projector screen, their thoughts returned to their corn maze.
The Benjamins were trying to pick their next design for their autumn corn maze. The theme had to be selected by February, so the Benjamins could pass their GPS coordinates to their designer. However, they couldn’t pinpoint what spoke to them.
Loretta and Todd eventually went on a business trip to Punta Cana in Dominican Republic while the Lions began their 2023 NFL playoff run. The Lions faced the Rams in a wild-card game, where they inched past Los Angeles with a 24-23 victory in January.
“It was like, ‘yeah, we’re legit now. … We’ve got to do a Lions theme for our corn maze,'” Loretta told ESPN.
The Benjamin took the proper steps to get their theme approved by reaching out to the Lions organization. Only one question remained: What design would they use?
Loretta and Todd, owners of Choice Bar Market in Webberville, Michigan, have been die-hard Lions fans for quite some time.
Todd owns a shirt that depicts a lion’s face with a matching hat that says “GRIT.” Detroit adopted the slogan when Dan Campbell became the franchise’s head coach in January 2021 with the intent to rebuild its culture. Campbell said the word means they’ll go a bit longer, push harder, think deeper and sharper. Campbell’s face is in the middle of the lion’s mane.
The design on Todd’s shirt caught Loretta’s eye, and its striking pattern became etched in her mind as the inspiration for the maze’s look. But she second-guessed it until the outline was presented to her.
“At first, I thought, ‘well, that’d be too creepy,’ and I was afraid it might be kind of weird. And then we got the sketch done and it was like, ‘oh, no, this is cool,'” Loretta said.
Selecting the corn for the maze is a process. Todd picks a variety of corn that takes a bit longer to mature so it can last through the end of October without drying out or breaking down. The Benjamins pick seeds that are resistant to certain diseases.
After selecting the corn, Todd cross plants it in rows running in both directions to create denser paths. They’ll then fertilize the crop with the proper nutrients to ensure it lasts through the season.
Loretta estimates the corn maze took about 10 hours to cut.
At the entrance of the maze, Choice Bar Market has a handful of interactive activities, such as 40-yard dashes and games that take up the open space inside. The inspiration came from the 2024 NFL draft in Detroit, where Loretta and Todd took their grandsons.
The maze takes about 15 to 20 minutes to walk through. Visitors can scan a QR code when they enter to time their duration inside the maze and find 10 checkpoints within.
Once the corn maze concludes at the end of October, the corn will be harvested and Todd will donate it to about 100 different customers to use as fuel for heating their homes.
South of Michigan, Indiana has a maze of its own in honor of the Fever‘s playoff appearance and WNBA Rookie of the Year Caitlin Clark.
Dana More, the chief operating officer of County Line Orchard in northwest Indiana, watched the WNBA draft with her nieces. After WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert announced Clark as the No. 1 pick, More instantly hopped online to purchase four Fever jerseys for herself and nieces before the site eventually sold out in an hour.
Like the Benjamin family, More was searching for ideas about what their fall corn maze theme would be. That was until her nieces advocated for it to be Clark.
“We were all excited and talking, [and] my nieces said, ‘that should be your corn maze this year.’ I was like ,’oh my gosh yes, this is perfect,'” More told ESPN.
More has been at the County Line Orchard for about 15 years and has built a strong relationship with the owners. After her nieces planted the thought of a Clark-themed corn maze, More texted the owner that night with the idea. He loved it.
“Sometimes, you just land on something like, this is just right,” More said. “This is the right move and it aligned with who we are.”
County Line Orchards began scouring the web immediately after the draft to find the perfect image of Clark to turn into the maze. The image came from the Fever’s media day.
The orchard composed the maze in what More describes as “reverse engineering.” They hired a third party in June to cut the maze before the seeds were planted, allowing the corn to grow into its shape.
The maze was ready by Aug. 28.
More says there are checkpoints to visit inside, similar to a scavenger hunt, along with basketball-related activities for customers, such as mini hoops. She estimates customers can spend about an hour in the maze.
Fever president Allison Barber took notice of the masterpiece and presented More and her twin nieces with exclusive tickets to watch the Fever take on the Las Vegas Aces, when A’ja Wilson broke the WNBA’s single-season points record after a 27-point performance earlier this month. Clark and Tamika Catchings signed More’s nieces’ jerseys.
The maze will conclude on Oct. 31, after which the corn will be harvested.
More hopes the Fever will visit to tour the maze.
“I think it goes back to supporting what’s local, and with us knowing their leadership and who our owners are, I would say the chances are pretty darn good,” More said.
