A MAZE OF MAIZE GROWS IN KAPOLEI

By Dean Sensui, Star-Bulletin
Brett Herbst, creator of the MAiZE, walks though part of the
labyrinth. In the overview below, you can see how the 6-acre
maze is designed. It consists of 250,000 to 300,000 stalks of
corn. Herbst designed the maze pattern on a computer, then
transferred the design into the growing field by hand.

Corny idea turns field
into a fun challenge

Star-Bulletin staff

A person of average intelligence should make it through the new MAiZE in Kapolei in an hour. Do you dare compare your brainpower to this baseline?

If so, step up to the entrance of this field of green, the latest way to amuse the young-uns and fritter (so to speak) away time in the open spaces of the Ewa Plain.

On five acres of Aloun Farms land, an agribusiness graduate, Brett Herbst, has built a labyrinth of corn with walls 8 feet high.

Herbst said the Kapolei cornfield is one of 25 maize mazes created this year throughout the country.

By Dean Sensui, Star-Bulletin

The 250,000-300,000 cornstalks were planted in July. "It grows a lot faster here," Herbst said.

The maze was designed on a computer, and when the field filled in, Herbst cut out the passageways. He estimates that while it will take an average of an hour to discover the one exit, a person who makes no wrong turns could do it in 15 minutes.

The MAiZE is open nights, for those who not only want to get lost, but want to get lost in the dark. Bring flashlights.

Special events are planned in the weeks leading up to Halloween, and school groups are invited for discount tours that include educational information about agriculture.

The MAiZE is on the stretch of Farrington Highway that lies east of Kapolei and west of Waipahu.

The MAiZE Where to go: Farrington Highway just outside Kapolei. Take H-1, exiting at Kapolei. Turn left on Makakilo Drive, then left on Farrington. Dates: Today through November. Hours: 4-10 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 4-11 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m.-11 p.m. Saturday and noon-5 p.m. Sunday. Admission: $7 general, $5 children under 12, free for children under 5 (these are kamaaina rates; general admission is slightly higher). Call: 677-9412. Online information: http://www.cornfieldmaze.com.