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North Saanich’s Pendray Farms invites people to get lost in the stalks

Hugo Wong
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Jennifer and Sarah Pendray have welcomed visitors through their corn maze for the third year now. (Hugo Wong/News staff)

Hugo Wong

News staff

For the third year in a row, Pendray Farms is inviting people to get lost in the corn stalks.

About 20,000 people are expected to walk one of the maze’s circuitous paths, which form the shape of a bear, a salmon, and the borders of Canada to mark the country’s 150th birthday. Visitors can expect games within each of the maze’s three routes, and winners are entered into a prize draw. Pendray says they haven’t settled on a prize yet, but it will likely involve a local experience in keeping with the sesquicentennial theme.

Pendray Farms introduced the corn maze three years ago after they reduced the size of their dairy farm and found themselves with excess corn, and since then, according to Sarah Pendray, “the rest, as they say, is history.”

“We’ve had tremendous community support,” she says.

“We’ve been overwhelmed by the support that we’ve had.”

If getting lost makes your knees weak, do not fret: there is a walking path surrounding the maze with a single exit.

In a rural twist on the traditional sandbox or ball pit, the farm has filled a giant box with eight tons of corn for children to play in. New for this year are barrel train rides for kids.

Pendray’s plants corn around May, and collaborates with Idaho-based company MazePlay, who cut the 14-acre maze with the help of a GPS-enabled tractor.

And if anyone needs help getting back to the farm, Pendray says, “always go west.”

The maze is open weekends from 10 am until 9 pm, and Fridays from 2-10. Starting October, it will also open Thursdays from 2-10.

The maze closes on Oct. 29. For more information, go to vicornmaze.com.