For more than 100-years Treinen family has been farming just west of Lodi, Wisconsin. Ever since he was a little boy Alan knew he wanted to be a farmer. Alan along with his wife Angie also knew they wanted to save and share their rural Wisconsin heritage. They started to think that maybe the fall business could be more, it could help the farm stay in the family.
So, in 2001 the Treinen’s opened their first corn maze. In the next 20 years it grew into one of the top ten corn mazes in the country according to USA Today. Angie taught herself how to design the intricate patterns including the trilobite, the state fossil of Wisconsin, a Krachen, along with Greek mythology like Icarus and Athena. In 2020 during the height of the pandemic Angie dreamed up a design incorporating a creature a half a millimeter long, known as a water bear. Ange said, “They are really weirdly, ridiculously cute under the microscope. They have a funny little snout. Pudgy little eight legs with the little claws on them. They look literally like a Teddy bear crossed with a Caterpillar.”
The Treinen’s say the toughest thing is just finding a theme that checks all their requirements including interesting, beautiful, entertaining and a challenge to get through. Angie spends a few months thinking about ideas before handing off the design to Alan for the actual planting. Alan takes Angie’s seed of an idea and transforms the landscape when the corn is only a few inches high.
Running a maze is nothing short of amazing for the Treinen’s and it’s turned into something beyond their wildest dreams. Angie would add, “and it turned out pretty good.”
