On Monday, a three-year-old boy was left at a corn maze in Ogden, Utah. The child’s mother didn’t realize he was gone until the following morning, however incidents like this are not entirely uncommon at corn mazes, according to Nancy Jensen who owned Green Canyon Farms Corn Maze until 2013.
“One time we had some kids that were like twelve and their parents dropped them off and they met their friends there at the corn maze and then they refused to come and pick them up. They refused to pick up their child, I don’t understand that.” Jensen said. “It happened a few time actually and we just called the police officers and they just took them home.”
There are no counties in Utah who have any kind of safety codes or regulations for corn maze owners to keep their customers safe. Jensen doesn’t believe security regulations were necessary until recently.
“Back in those days it wasn’t really necessary I guess,” Jensen said. “There wasn’t all these shootings and stuff that are happening now. It was just a fun activity that no one ever thought of stuff like that.”
Jensen advises that corn maze owners build a fence around the maze to keep out anyone who may want to cause trouble.
“If they sneak in, there’s a reason,” Jensen said.
Jensen also advises corn maze owner to walk through their corn maze every night before they close.
“For security, we made sure we swept the whole thing before we left,” she said.
Despite her recommended caution, Jensen does believe that at the end of the day corn mazes are fun, family-friendly activities that everyone should have the opportunity to enjoy.
