Beloved Illinois corn maze switching to hemp this fall

GODFREY, Sick. – The Nice Godfrey Corn Maze is the location of one of the widespread fall-time traditions within the St. Louis area. Beginning this autumn, it’s getting a brand new twist.

The normal corn maze will swap to a Sunn hemp design this fall, utilizing cannabis-made crops for the primary time because it opened in 1999. The Godfrey Village Board accredited a measure Tuesday permitting the maze to open this fall utilizing Sunn hemp reasonably than corn.

Chris Logan, director for the Godfrey Parks and Recreation division, tells FOX 2 that Sunn hemp is simpler and cheaper to develop than corn. Organizers of the normal corn maze sought new choices after they needed to shut down the maze final 12 months as a result of unseasonable climate.

Final 12 months’s crops solely grew a couple of toes tall as extended rain washed away fertilizer used to arrange the seven-acre corn maze. After final 12 months’s shutdown, a neighborhood farmer knowledgeable Godfrey village officers of Sunn hemp, which met the identical environmental necessities as corn for the aim of constructing a maze.

By switching to Sunn hemp, Logan says farmers don’t want to regulate their duties across the climate almost as typically to correctly put together the maze. Below correct soil situations and satisfactory rainfall, Sunn hemp can stretch as much as 12 toes tall.

A Minnesota farm launched the same hemp maze idea final fall. The maze was created in partnership with the Minnesota Division of Agriculture in an effort to manage and improve hemp manufacturing and training all through the state.

Crews will start making ready the maze, which is situated at 1401 Stamper Lane in Madison County, over the following few weeks. Logan says the primary steps are spraying the sector and planting the Sunn hemp seed. If all goes as deliberate, the village of Godfrey expects to open the maze close to the top of September.

The village of Godfrey expects to share extra updates on its web site and Fb web page for the maze within the upcoming weeks.