The Tech Activities Board hosted several events during October at The Maize at At'l Do Farms, and the location's overall visitor totals are increasing every year.
Every year, thousands flock to the maze, and their numbers increase every year, said the farm's owner, Patti Simpson.
The corn maze occupies a nine-acre area, she said, which is about the size of 10 football fields.
Simpson and her husband, both Texas Tech alumni, began The Maize in 2001. That year's visitors totaled about 20,000, she said.
The total number of visitors last year was about 33,000, including families, church groups, scouts, Tech organizations, students, high school and junior high students and out-of-town visitors.
The Tech Activity Board has sponsored the event for the past three years, and about 800 Tech students visited the corn maze in October, Simpson said.
Amanda Cruse, a junior business management and marketing major, said The Maize is an experience in which students can bond with people as they navigate their way through the maze, get lost and have to find a way out.
"Definitely an experience everyone needs to have at least once in their life," Cruse said.
The Simpsons close down the corn maze only if heavy rain is in the area.
Otherwise it is open regardless of the wind, sun or cold weather, she said. When it is cold, people bundle up and come out anyway ,and most people like to come after dark, when they use glow sticks to navigate the maze.
The Maize is part of a franchise group that includes 170 corn mazes across the nation, she said, and the owners of the mazes meet every March to discuss their ideas for the upcoming year.
The corn is planted at the end of June and cut in mid-July when it is about six inches high, Simpson said, and it takes three days to plow.
At the end of the season, she said, they harvest the corn and Tech's College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources buys the crop from them every year.
Simpson said this year's corn maze design is a celebration of Lubbock's centennial.
The corn maze stays busy with birthday party events, team building events sponsored by United Supermarkets for their staff, companies showing employee appreciation and student groups from Tech, she said.
This season's maze opened Sept. 13, Simpson said, and will be open through Nov. 29.
For more information, log on to the maze's Web site, www.cornfieldmaze.com.
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