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Kindergartners find their own ‘great pumpkin' in local patch

By Chantel Balzell -Daily News Staff - cbalzell@dailynews.com

From the corn maze to the pumpkin patch, children from Saint Mary's School scampered the Tomahawk Berry Farm, before taking home the perfect pumpkin.

According to owner of the Tomahawk Berry Farm Tom Behling, this is the fourth year he and his wife, Sharon, have made a corn maze and the seventh or eighth year he has had a pumpkin patch, drawing kindergartners through fourth graders from Rhinelander, Minocqua, Prentice, Tomahawk, and occasionally Eagle River. Approximately 600 students from various schools attend the farm annually, bringing home a pumpkin of their choice.

“It's just a lot of fun to watch people go through the maze and find stamps,” Sharon said. “It's lots of fun for the family, too. Some families bring snacks and hot chocolate, and make an afternoon out of it.”

This year, the pumpkin patch is about an acre and the corn maze is roughly three acres. To prevent the pumpkins from freezing, the Behlings pump about 200 gallons of water per minute on the patch through an irrigation system.

“Last year we had about two and a half acres of pumpkins, we got stuck with a whole bunch of them, so we kinda cut back on the pumpkins,” Tom said.

According to Sharon, the leftover pumpkins are sold to deer hunters for their plots.

In the past, the Behlings have shaped their corn maze to resemble a jack-o'-lantern and a witch's hat, but this year the couple could not get their chosen design to scale accurately, and decided to “freehand it.”

The maze consists of four stakes with four different colored stamps that the children are supposed to find. The kids are instructed to enter the maze in groups, leaving with the same group.

“The hall of fame, you're in and out in about 20 minutes to half an hour,” Tom said. “The hall of shame, an hour or two - or the wall of shame, however you want to call it.”

To make the corn maze, the Behlings plant the corn so that the seeds are scattered, and are not in visible rows. Then, they lay out the pattern and use a mower to plow the corn stalks.

While they encourage the public to pick a pumpkin before the last week of October because the pumpkins usually freeze by then, the Behlings put on a haunted maze during Halloween weekend after dark.

“There's nothing out there that's gory,” Tom said. “About the worst thing is I take the chain off the power saw and do the chain saw thing.”

Tom says the corn maze is fun at night because there is no light on the farm and goers must bring their own flashlight.

The haunted maze will take place on Oct. 27 and Oct. 28, but the maze will also be open to the public on Oct. 29 from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. The maze costs $6 for adults and $5 for children between 5 and 12 years old.

To make a group appointment, call (715) 453-3449.

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Ben wrote on Oct 25, 2006 1:11 PM: " This maze is incredible, its fun every year, I can't wait until this year! " The comments above are from readers. In no way do they represent the views of the Rhinelander Daily News.

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