Corn mazes centrally located on Long Island
Camila Munoz, 3, and Jissell Munoz from Brooklyn work on a scavenger hunt in the corn maze at Schmitt's Farm in Melville on Oct. 8. Credit: Morgan Campbell
When Judith Cantor and her family wanted to go to try a corn maze, they didn’t want to drive all the way from their home in Brooklyn to the East End of Long Island — so instead they chose F&W Schmitt's Family Farm in Melville.
“I didn’t even know we had places so close to our home,” says Cantor, who visited Schmitt’s with her children and grandchildren. While most farms offering corn mazes are east of Yaphank, there are choices to the west.
F&W Schmitt’s Family Farm in Melville
Schmitt's Farm offers one of the biggest corn mazes west of Yaphank, and it has activities along the walk. “We do a new theme every year,” says Schmitt’s manager Ferdie Schmitt. This year's maze is Alien Invasion-themed and tells the story of Cornelius (do you see what they did there?), who is attacked by aliens. “There are nine stations within the maze,” Schmitt says. People who walk the maze get paper and pencil, and at each station they can make rubbings of items such as a spaceship or a planet.
“I was kind of impressed,” Cantor says; it was her first time tackling a corn maze. “It was exciting, and it was a little scary because we couldn’t find our way out. We liked it.” She did the maze with her grandchildren Xavier Cruz, 15, and Victoria Cruz, 9.
You really can’t get too lost in the maze, Schmitt promises. “It is designed to lead you to the exit,” he says. Ribbons line the corn maze, and they change color as people progress through so people know they are moving toward the end, he says.
The maze is best for children 6 and older; it can take one to two hours to complete, Schmitt says. However, a stroller can be wheeled through, he says. The maze isn’t scary, he says; there are no animatronics or live actors inside.
The farm also offers a playground, duck races, a straw pyramid with a slide, wagon rides, an animal farm area with sheep, llama, turkeys, goats and rabbits, pony rides, photo opportunities and a pumpkin field.
WHEN | WHERE Noon to 5 p.m. weekdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekends, weather permitting, 26 Pinelawn Rd., Melville
COST $15 admission is required and includes playground, wagon ride, straw pyramid and duck races; corn maze is additional $10 per person. An animal farm is $6 to enter, $5 to buy food to feed the animals; pony rides are $11. Pumpkins are 80 cents per pound.
INFO 631-271-3276, schmittsfarm.com
Elwood Pumpkin and Christmas Tree Farm in Huntington
The Elwood maze is simple and straightforward, says owner Lee Itzler. “It’s meant to be a child corn maze. It’s not challenging for adults,” he says.
There’s also a wagon ride through the Christmas tree section of the farm. “It’s quite beautiful,” Itzler says. In addition to the maze and wagon ride, there’s “lots and lots of pumpkins,” he says.
WHEN | WHERE 3 to 5 p.m. weekdays and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekends, 1500 E. Jericho Tpke., Huntington
COST $7 per person for corn maze only, $7 to choose pumpkins (children younger than 5 free for pumpkin patch only), $8 per person for wagon ride, buying pumpkins cost vary according to size. Cash only.
INFO 631-368-8626, elwoodpumpkinfarm.com
BB & GG Farm and Nursery in St. James
The corn maze is 10 acres and takes about 30 minutes to wind through, says owner Bill Borella. “It’s kind of no frills,” he says; there’s no theme or story attached to the maze. The price of the maze also includes a hayride around the farm.
WHEN | WHERE 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekends at 625 North Country Rd., St. James
COST $10 includes corn maze and tractor-pulled hayride. There’s no fee to enter the pumpkin patch but pumpkins cost 79 cents per pound.
INFO 631-862-9182
Beth Whitehouse writes about families, parenting and great things to do with the kids on Long Island. She’s been a Newsday editor and shared a 1997 Newsday staff Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the crash of TWA Flight 800.
