This weekend, Goebel Farms will open a Carrie Fisher-themed corn maze. The maze, when viewed for above, is clearly the fact of Princess Leia from Star Wars. It was created in February, a little more than a month after Fisher’s death.
“I’ve always been a Star Wars fan and I just wanted to pay tribute to Carrie Fisher,” said Jeremy Goebel, who designed and planted the maze.
Goebel has designed and planted corn mazes at Goebel Farms for 16 years. The process now is mostly done on computers.
He begins by taking a photo — in this case a picture of Princess Leia. He uses Photoshop to trace a design that looks like the photo, but also includes the random pathways and dead ends necessary for a corn maze.
“I’m not really an artist,” Goebel said. “And I’m probably not a perfect maze artist. I just trace it out and try to add in enough dead ends and turnarounds.”
Once he has the design, Goebel uploads it into a tractor computer that uses GPS to plant the field.
make a corn maze they cut the rows out by hand in mid-August, when the corn was tall and strong.
“It was not a great time to make a maze,” he said.
The second year they cut out the design earlier. The process involved a lot of guesswork. Goebel had to measure out the pathways in the field as he went.
“The third year we started using GPS,” Goebel said.
In addition to the corn maze, the farm will also be selling pumpkins and hosting a petting zoo, said Susan Goebel, Jeremy Goebel’s mother.
Later this fall, the farm will offer hay rides, a pumpkin patch, cider slushies and other family-friendly activities.
The farm is located at 4745 W Boonville-New Harmony Rd. in Evansville. The maze will be open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, and 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. The cost is $5 for adults, $4 for children under 12, and children under 3 enter for free.