Richardson Farm: Beyond A-Maze-ing
‘World’s Largest Corn Maze’ just one of the ways to enjoy the day at Richardson Adventure Farm.
Clutching a Rice Krispies tulip pop and beaming a smile, 4-year-old Carter Weisenburger headed toward the Richardson Adventure Farm parking lot with his family.
Asked about his visit, Carter said what he liked best was “the little version of the slide.” His 8-year-old brother, meanwhile, favored the main attraction, a little thing known as the World’s Largest Corn Maze.
“I liked the mystery part of it,” Grant Weisenburger said.
“It was kind of like a giant game of clue, wasn’t it?” said his mom, Heather Weisenburger.
All told, six members of the Weisenburger clan had ventured out from Huntley to take it all in on a breezy and beautiful fall Sunday. Grandparents Ed and Cheryl Weisenburger were there, along with their son, Kurt, his wife, Cheryl, and the grandsons, Carter and Grant.
“We had fun, didn’t we?” the elder Mr. Weisenburger said, adding that it was his first visit to the farm at 909 English Prairie Road, Spring Grove, while Cheryl had been out for the farm’s first-ever tulip festival in May.
“There’s a lot of fun things for kids to do here, and it was a lot of fun to watch them,” Ed Weisenburger said.
“There’s a lot of things for older people to do, too,” chimed in Grant. “There’s something for everyone.”
”Something for Everyone” Indeed!
One step beyond the admission gates, it’s clear that the Huntley family wasn’t kidding. The list of fun activities is long, from corn cannons to a carousel and live music on weekends, concessions and food trucks of all kinds, picnic areas, a train ride around the grounds, a 50-foot-tall viewing tower, ring toss games, huge jumping pillows, pedal carts, a sliding hill, a petting zoo, pig races, a zipline, Zorbing, X-Treme Air, a 150-foot tubing slide, paintball target shooting, a large and well-stocked gift shop including a selection of pumpkins, gourds and mums, a wine-tasting bar, plenty of indoor bathrooms and, of course, the 28-acre corn maze and its 9 miles of trails.
“It’s great to be within an hour’s drive of millions of people, but there are also a thousand other things folks could be doing besides coming to our farm, so we work really hard to provide a great experience,” said George Richardson, among the fifth generation of owners along with his brother Robert, and their wives, Wendy and Carol. A sixth generation, George’s son, Ryan, and his wife, Kristen, bought into the business in 2007.
Much of the fun on offer at the adventure farm is included in the price of admission, which is free for those 2 and younger and for all others will range from $15 to $22 in October through Nov. 7, depending on age and day of the week. Some activities, like the zipline and Zorbing, are available for an additional fee.
On the Sunday when the Weisenburgers visited, the crowd roared to select 50-Cent (a Pound) to face off with Piggy Buffet and Corny in the 4 p.m. pig-racing finals. All were soon to be winners, though, as children in the audience clamored for a chance to feed them their post-race vanilla crème cookies.
Between the miles of corn maze trails and the myriad of memories to be made, an opportunity to visit the Richardson Adventure Farm is not to be missed.
Know Before You Go
General admission hours of 3 to 9 p.m. Thursdays, 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and noon to 9 p.m. Sundays continue until Nov. 7. The final Maze until Midnight of the season will be Oct. 22-23. The adventure farm also will be open on Columbus Day, Monday, Oct. 11, when area students have the day off from school.
Parking is free at Richardson Farm, located just an hour’s drive northwest of Chicago.