A couple of Dawson County brothers say they still plan to open their corn maze next month despite vandals who tried to sabotage it.
Bryan and Chris Gober were excited to open their first corn maze, Papa Pat’s Corn Maze, named after their father. It’s on the same sight used by a former longtime maze on Hwy 53.
The property was first targeted by vandals even before planting began this summer when someone drilled a hole into a tractor tire and stole a chain off the planter. But four weeks later the corn was tall, lush and green.
They called the Dawson County Sheriff’s Department and the county extension office who told them it looked to have been sprayed with a commercial herbicide.
On Saturday, the brothers began cutting the paths on the 12-acre site. But by Monday, they noticed nearly two acres of corn was yellow and dying.
"We really don't have an idea of who done [sic] it or why they done [sic] it… or why they're mad at us," Bryan tells WSB's Sandra Parrish.
But the brothers don’t plan on letting the vandalism stop their efforts on bringing joy to the community this fall season.
“We had to backtrack, redesign, and take some things out,” says Bryan.
Chris says it now allows them to offer an extra attraction to customers.
“We had to split the maze into two different sections because of where they sprayed. So, therefore, we’re going to do a haunted maze on one section and a regular maze on the rest of it,” he says.
In addition, they will have a hay ride going through some of the destroyed sections.
They say the maze will still open as planned on Sept. 20.
"We got [sic] a tent coming; we got [sic] a sales shack coming; and we got [sic] people wanting to do food. So, we're going to try it," says Bryan.
They say extra security measures are now in place on the property including cameras and some watchful eyes.