ALTO, Mich. — After months of hard work and harvest, an intricate corn maze opened in Alto this weekend.
Liv and Stephen McDaniel have been hard at work in their second year as owners of Deep Roots Produce.
This year, they decided to try their hand at something new.
"We opened a corn maze this year," Liv McDaniel said to Fox 17 on Saturday. "This is our first year doing it. There's three trails, there's a kids maze, there is an intermediate maze and an advanced maze, and depending on how good you are at mazes, you could be in there for up to 2 hours if you're doing the advanced maze."
But their corn maze has a twist. If you can get a Birdseye view of it, you can see two dogs.
With mazes ranging from 0.3 miles to nearly 2.5 miles, visitors can choose the length of their journey before enjoying fresh local produce,
"The better you are, the faster it will go, cause you can get lost in there," Stephen McDaniel said. "There's some platforms in there to get you up above the corn, and there's checkpoints along the way. We have punchcards available, you can check off where you are in the maze and win some fun prizes. We also have produce available and all sorts of goodies, but the corn maze is the big thing this Fall, and the u-pick pumpkin patch as well, with 9 different varieties of pumpkins."
More than a few West Michigan families have made the journey out to Alto this Summer, as after opening for the season on June 26, visitors can pick pumpkins and tomatoes, buy pre-picked fresh produce, and enjoy mini doughnuts while taking enjoying nature.
At the beginning of the corn maze, the McDaniel family has set up some informational signs with colorful pictures, so kids can learn the science behind farming with their families.
Stephen said he is thrilled to see these families take an interest in local families, especially among the little ones.
"It's my favorite part of farming," McDaniel said. "It's a lot of hard work from sun up to sun down always doing something different everyday, but seeing kids and family members come and learn about agriculture and get excited about it and actually eat nutritious food that you put your hard and soul into is awesome."
Deep Roots Produce will be open from 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Thursday and 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. every weekend.
The corn maze is open Friday-Sunday from 11 a.m.-6:30 p.m. through September, and will become a little spookier in October as Halloween draws closer.
To learn more about Deep Roots Produce and purchase tickets for the Corn Maze, visit their website here or visit 'Deep Roots Produce' on Facebook and Instagram.
