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PDX Broker’s Commercial Insights: Article No. 9
With October almost out the door and Halloween almost upon us there is only one thing every person has left to do: “Go get lost in The Maize.” What is The Maize you might ask? Well, The Maize, (yes, the spelling is correct) is the biggest and best corn maze in town, and it is located at The Pumpkin Patch Farm on Sauvie’s Island.
The owner of The Maize is non-other than Craig Easterly, one of the friendliest guys you will ever meet. His characteristic full beard, “Corn Cop” labeled yellow T-Shirt and rather worn- in ball cap makes him very easy to spot on the farm grounds. Easterly, a Portland transplant from Ontario, Oregon started The Maize on Sauvie’s Island over 10 years ago in 1999. His father had gotten him into the business, and after doing some research about the very minimum overhead costs and good pay off if done correctly, Easterly approached the owners of The Pumpkin Patch, along with a few other farms, about the idea. The Pumpkin Patch decided to enter into a ground lease with Easterly for nine acres and from there on the rest was history.
Now Easterly designs the mazes he hosts every year, trying to pick designs that go with the local flavors in the area. How the design gets incorporated into the corn fields… well, that is top secret, and if you ask you will likely get the answer that the staff “has E.T. on speed dial to do the landscaping.” This year Easterly decided to go with a Trail Blazer theme, after The Portland Trail Blazers basketball team. The Trail Blazer design was a really big hit, bringing out people from all over Oregon of different ages and walks of life. Large groups even showed up from as far South as Eugene and Corvallis, while others came East from the Oregon coast.
“It really was surprising to me how far people traveled this year to come out to The Maize,” Easterly said. “It didn’t matter if it was raining or shining, and that is a big difference from Ontario where I grew up.”
During the Halloween season, after dark The Maize becomes haunted with the week before Halloween being Easterly’s biggest business days.
Some things I would suggest to avoid the wait are:
a. Come early. The haunted version of The Maize starts at 7PM and stays open until about 10PM.
b. If you have a group of 15 or more, call The Maize and make a reservation for your group. If there is space, your group will be let in the group reservation line at a designated time. Also your group will be offered a group discount.
c. Come during the day and enjoy all the other things The Pumpkin Patch Farm has to offer such as hay rides, cow train rides, the pumpkin patch, seeing the farm animals, caramel apples and more. During that time you can get a combo ticket so you can do the regular version of the maze while it’s light out, and then the haunted version once it gets dark.
d. Lastly, come out Thursday or Saturday (Halloween night) to avoid lines, as Friday is destined to be busy.
For further information on times, group events, and field conditions, because hey… it’s Oregon and it rains, check out The Maize’s website at http://www.portlandmaze.com/ .
The Maize closes down for the season this coming Sunday so you have one-week left to check it out. If you show the ticket booth person this article (by either printing it, or by going green and showing this article on your phone) you will get a $2.00 discount on your admission price.
One thing I personally would recommend to all my readers is bring your boots, but don’t let a little mud scare ya!
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This article is part of the ‘PDX Broker’s Commercial Insights’ series for The Portlander. The column is written by PDX_Broker, a Portlander who works as a Commercial Real Estate Broker in Downtown, Portland. PDX_Broker specializes in Retail Properties and does both Landlord and Tenant representation throughout the Portland Metro and SW Washington areas. She writes frequently about the Commercial Real Estate Industry, Commercial Businesses, and Retail Owners in the Portland area.
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