Latest / Coffee In The Park with Jennifer and Cam / A Coffee with Jesse Kraay, Co-Owner of the Edmonton Corn Maze!

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A Coffee with Jesse Kraay, Co-Owner of the Edmonton Corn Maze! · Coffee In The Park with Jennifer and Cam

0:00
Hi, I'm Jesse Kraay, and you're listening to Coffee In The Park with Jennifer and Cam.
0:19
The apple pies that you made, they were amazing.
0:21
I'm glad you liked them.
0:22
No, they were really good.
0:23
Okay, did they have too much cinnamon?
0:25
No, no, no, no, no, there wasn't too much cinnamon.
0:27
The cinnamon shaker got a little out of control.
0:28
It was the right blend of sweet and tart.
0:31
It was really good.
0:32
Well, it is my mother-in-law's recipe.
0:34
Well, give your mother-in-law big kudos.
0:36
Thanks for the pies, and I know Hayden made a few dollars on them, so that's really cool.
0:40
Yeah, no, it was great.
0:41
Had a cup of tea and some Saskatchewan honey and some apple pie last night.
0:45
It was wonderful.
0:46
It was really good.
0:46
I know.
0:46
It's like farm to table Cam.
0:48
That's right.
0:49
It was from Jennifer's backyard.
0:51
Your backyard is not a farm.
0:53
I know you don't have chickens and cows and things.
0:55
Well, I don't, but I have apples.
0:56
So you have apples.
0:57
So I guess that's a lot of fun.
0:59
Do you get a farm credit from the government or something for that?
1:02
We can talk about that later.
1:03
Anyway, everybody, welcome to another edition of Coffee In The Park with Jennifer and Cam.
1:08
And as always, we are coming to you from the Wall Coffee Roasters in the heart of beautiful downtown Acheson.
1:16
That's right.
1:17
And today's a beautiful day.
1:18
It's a gorgeous day.
1:19
It's middle September, well, the 16th of September, and it's like sunny and warm and I'm in short sleeves.
1:25
I'll take it as long as it lasts in Alberta because every day it's warm means that's not a day with snow.
1:32
That's how I look at it.
1:33
That's not minus 30.
1:34
I know.
1:34
So it's kind of crazy.
1:35
So kind of cool, great day.
1:37
Thanks for joining us, everybody.
1:38
Hey, we want to make mention that we are brought to you by our friends at Wing Snob.
1:44
Jennifer, what are you having for dinner tonight?
1:46
Well, hopefully Wing Snob.
1:48
Hopefully Wing Snob.
1:49
Listen, if you've never been to Wing Snob, you've got to go to Wing Snob.
1:53
Wing Snob are some of the best wings that you're going to find anywhere.
1:56
I mean, they're amazing and 10 locations in the city of Edmonton and 16 flavors.
2:03
And four different rubs.
2:04
Four different rubs.
2:05
And you know the best thing about Wing Snob is they are fresh, never frozen.
2:11
And so if you have not been to a Wing Snob, I'm dead serious, folks.
2:14
It's some of the best wings you will ever have.
2:16
And what's your favorite?
2:18
My favorite, my favorite is either the garlic parm or I like the lemon pepper.
2:23
Oh, the lemon pepper is really good.
2:25
And yours?
2:25
Well, it's a toss up between the Snobby Q, Snobby Q.
2:29
Or the lemon pepper or the dill pickle.
2:32
Okay, just all favorites, because they're all amazing and they have the most amazing parm fries and they have cornbread and you get two kinds of wings.
2:42
You can get the boneless or traditional.
2:46
So hey, or you can do 50-50.
2:48
Get half and half and do it that way.
2:50
So Wing Snob, you got to go to it, you got to check them out.
2:52
Plus, they have these incredible meal pack deals, like family pack things for the whole family.
2:59
So if you have like 15 kids in your family, I don't know who has that anymore, but say you had like six kids or whatever, they got these family packs and they got a party pack, 50 pieces of wings in the party pack.
3:10
So check them out today at www.wingsnob.ca.
3:15
Best wings you're going to have.
3:16
We also are brought to you by our friends at Mprint Printing.
3:21
Mprint Sign and Print Solutions here in Acheson.
3:24
They are the preferred printer of Coffee In The Park with Jennifer and Cam.
3:27
That's right.
3:28
They do all our printing for us, but they are way bigger than us and they do amazing stuff.
3:32
Everything from business cards.
3:34
You know, our business cards are the best.
3:36
We had people tell us yesterday.
3:37
Was it yesterday?
3:38
Yes.
3:38
Somebody told us best business card they ever had.
3:40
Exactly.
3:41
It looks like a little mini coaster, but anyway, it's kind of cool.
3:44
I don't know if we did that on purpose, but they do everything.
3:46
They do business cards, they do brochures, they do pamphlets, they do booklets, they do books, they do everything.
3:52
And they wrap.
3:53
They wrap.
3:54
They install and wrap.
3:55
They'll wrap your entire motorhome.
3:57
They'd wrap your entire house if you wanted your house wrapped.
4:01
I don't know who would, but maybe you would.
4:02
I don't know.
4:03
Maybe Oilers season comes.
4:04
You want your house to look like the Oilers, but they are amazing printers.
4:08
They do excellent work.
4:09
They work with non-profit organizations.
4:11
They're global.
4:12
They'll send it anywhere in the world.
4:14
They're amazing people, Mprint, here in Acheson.
4:16
Yes.
4:17
So check them out today for all your printing needs at www.mprint.ca.
4:22
mprint.ca.
4:24
That's right.
4:24
And we want to thank them for being and supporting Coffee In The Park with Jennifer and Cam.
4:29
We really appreciate it.
4:30
I'm very excited about our guest today, Jennifer.
4:32
You are.
4:33
And Cam, you were...
4:34
So our guest, which we'll give it away in a moment, but you were at their business not that long ago.
4:40
I was.
4:40
I checked it out.
4:41
And I was a little worried because I thought, well, I'll explain once we get going.
4:46
But I was worried.
4:47
I thought, oh my, this could be the end.
4:49
But anyway, it was fantastic.
4:51
I know.
4:51
And you made it out alive.
4:52
I made it out alive.
4:54
And it was absolutely fantastic.
4:55
So Jennifer, introduce our guest this morning.
4:58
Our guest today is Jesse Kraay with the Edmonton Corn Maze.
5:02
So welcome, Jesse.
5:03
Welcome, Jesse.
5:04
Edmonton Corn Maze.
5:06
That's right.
5:06
Glad to be here.
5:07
Yeah, it's pretty fantastic.
5:09
So we have listeners all over the world.
5:11
For those who don't know, we have this amazing corn maze right here.
5:16
Are you in Acheson?
5:17
Are you in Parkland County?
5:19
Parkland County, yeah.
5:20
And so it's just this amazing, incredible corn maze.
5:24
And I went to it two weeks ago and I went through it.
5:27
And I have to be honest, okay, I'm going to tell this story right off the top.
5:31
So I'm waiting to go into this corn maze.
5:33
We're with some friends and they're little.
5:35
And a girl who I don't know, she looks like she's about six years old, comes right up to me, looks me in the eye and says, "you'll never get out".
5:45
She said, you're not going to get out.
5:47
There is video evidence.
5:48
And that's right, I have video of her saying you're not going to get out.
5:52
And so I did it, I got through it, I got out.
5:55
I saw the little girl, she cut in front of me at the concession line.
5:58
And as she was going through, I looked at her and said, I got out.
6:01
And she just kept walking.
6:03
But anyways, welcome.
6:05
This is incredible.
6:06
It's good to be here.
6:07
And how many years has the corn maze been operating?
6:09
This is our 25th season.
6:11
That's right.
6:11
25 years.
6:13
So if you've never been to a corn maze, folks, it's a maze.
6:15
It's a giant maze that is cut in a huge cornfield, a massive cornfield.
6:22
Yeah, we have about 10 acres of corn and then we cut paths in there and the corn is about 10 feet tall or so.
6:27
And you wander around and yeah, try and find your way back out.
6:31
It's pretty cool.
6:32
So let's start from the beginning.
6:34
Let's start from the beginning.
6:36
Jesse, we want to learn a little bit about you.
6:38
Tell us a little bit about yourself.
6:40
Where were you born?
6:41
Where did you grow up?
6:42
I was born in Surrey, BC, but I immediate or like when I was young, my parents started a hog farm in Lacombe.
6:51
So we moved there as kids and I grew up in Lacombe, just south of here.
6:55
And then went to university in Edmonton.
6:59
And then once that was done, I've been running a corn maze ever since.
7:05
Wow.
7:05
And what did you take in university?
7:07
It was environmental studies.
7:08
Oh, okay.
7:08
Well, I guess that kind of goes together.
7:11
Environmental studies, corn maze.
7:12
Yeah, growing up on a farm, it worked for me.
7:16
But growing up on a hog farm, tell us a little bit about that.
7:19
What was that like?
7:20
It was good.
7:20
There was lots of work around and we were outside and got a couple of brothers.
7:24
And we had lots of fun just playing around and working with the pigs.
7:29
Working with the pigs.
7:30
Hence why now I know you have pigs at the corn maze.
7:33
We do have a few.
7:34
Not running wild.
7:34
They're not wild pigs.
7:36
But you have a couple pigs there. Brings me back to my youth.
7:38
They're kind of cool little pigs actually.
7:40
The smell never leaves, so.
7:41
That's right.
7:43
The smell never leaves.
7:46
Actually, it was kind of funny.
7:47
The families we were with, they loved the pigs.
7:50
They loved them.
7:50
Well, the goats and the pigs.
7:51
But yeah, the pigs were kind of cool.
7:53
So you went to U of A.
7:54
And was it your intention graduating to start a corn maze?
7:59
I really had no idea what I was going to do with my life as we were graduating.
8:02
And my parents in Lacombe had started a corn maze one year before in 2000.
8:08
They had heard about it, started up.
8:10
So they ran one in Lacombe.
8:12
It was successful the first year.
8:14
So I was looking for something to do.
8:16
I had a friend, Dan Horneman, he runs it, with the maze with me now.
8:20
And we didn't really have a lot of future plans and open for just about anything.
8:26
So we thought we would try and see what we could do up in Edmonton because of the popularity down in Lacombe.
8:33
So yeah, we didn't really have a lot of connections up here.
8:37
We drove around in the fall of 2000, looked at a bunch of farmland around the city and tried making business plans and all of that fun stuff.
8:48
So is this the original site where you are now?
8:50
We are now, but we drove around the whole city thinking of, dreaming of places where it would work.
8:56
This is fascinating to me.
8:58
You graduate university and you are thinking, what am I going to do? What am I gonna do with my life?
9:02
And then you decide, we are going to do a corn maze.
9:04
Exactly.
9:05
We just thought we would give it a try.
9:07
We didn't really know what was going to happen.
9:09
And one day, Dan was driving around on the west end here, saw a farmer out in his field, parked on the side of the road.
9:18
That gets even better.
9:20
Popped in the cab and started talking to some old farmer.
9:25
He knew a guy who had some land that possibly would work, so we made some connections.
9:31
There were some family connections down the road.
9:33
So we knew the person.
9:36
We sat down over the winter of 2001, signed a bit of a lease and thought we'd give it a whirl.
9:43
Yeah.
9:47
It's not just like opening a store or opening a business.
9:51
I have a question about this.
9:53
Jesse, did you and Dan have other jobs while you were doing this, or were you both fully committed, this is what we're going to do?
10:01
This was our start when we got out of school.
10:04
This was our plan for the next summer, and we would see how it went.
10:10
Had Dan ever done a corn maze before?
10:12
No, but you had.
10:14
Well, my parents had run it, but I was not part of that.
10:16
I was away, but they had had lots of people come through there.
10:19
So we thought we'd give it a try.
10:23
And back then, there wasn't a lot of corn grown up here.
10:26
So we had to make some connections for that and all sorts of things.
10:30
That's pretty incredible.
10:31
That's amazing.
10:32
Like, and so was the highway, you guys are right on, what is that highway?
10:36
Garden Valley Road or Highway 627.
10:38
Yeah, and was that highway there like that?
10:40
Was 627 paved already?
10:42
It was paved, but the city was still quite a ways away from there.
10:45
Yeah, and now the city is like almost, because I live right just, well, not Edgemont, but over in the Hamptons area.
10:52
Yeah, we were in the middle of nowhere and it felt like that.
10:56
Man, it's not like, well, it's like going to the country, but not too far from the city.
11:01
Pretty incredible.
11:02
Okay, so you guys over the winter, you sat down, started planning a corn maze.
11:07
Did you, again, like, how do you do that?
11:10
Like, it just amazes me.
11:12
How do you plan a corn maze?
11:13
Well, not only that, how do you, if you're doing this for the first time, this is your business, how do you budget for a corn maze?
11:20
Like, is it just the price of corn?
11:21
Well, back then, I didn't have a whole lot of extra money sitting around to do this, so I borrowed some money from my grandfather and we thought, we just put it all on that.
11:31
And it wasn't a ton of money to start, but it was enough that we had to make sure that it was a success.
11:36
Did you guys plant and seed and do all that yourselves, or did you have someone do that for you?
11:41
We worked with some of the local farmers around there, and they were happy to give us a bit of a hand to get started.
11:47
And then at that time, there was a company that started in Utah.
11:51
They had been doing corn mazes, I think, for about five years before we started.
11:58
So they kind of had done blueprints of how you could run the business and how to cut the design in and stuff.
12:04
Professional corn maze consultant people.
12:07
Exactly.
12:07
Yeah.
12:08
Who knew?
12:09
Who knew?
12:10
So anyone who's out there who's thinking of doing what Jesse and Dan are doing, but I'd go to Jesse before I go to them in Utah.
12:18
Because yeah.
12:18
No, but they've done hundreds, they've done thousands of them around the world now.
12:21
Wow.
12:22
And they still do design our mazes.
12:24
So corn mazes are a big thing then.
12:25
I didn't realize.
12:26
When you say around the world.
12:27
Yeah, they're all over the place.
12:28
Wherever you can grow corn, people try and get it up. Have corn mazes.
12:33
Have you ever been to any?
12:34
Have you ever visited other corn mazes?
12:36
I'm usually fairly busy during that time.
12:38
That's right.
12:39
During the season.
12:40
During the time I see them go.
12:43
Do they ever come to see you?
12:44
People who stop in.
12:45
Yeah.
12:46
And every winter, there's a corn party, which hundreds of different corn mazes around North America get together.
12:53
Like a corn maze trade show?
12:54
Kind of, yeah.
12:56
You go visit farms.
12:58
They're all over the place in Texas and Florida.
13:00
Someplace warmer.
13:02
You don't get to necessarily see the corn maze itself, but you get to see the farm.
13:05
Sit around and other people that are, yeah.
13:08
Like a corn maze trade show.
13:09
That's right.
13:10
And just talk about corn maze.
13:11
Is there like new, every year, is there like something new in the industry that everybody's going to do this year?
13:17
There's different activities and stuff and just brainstorming and doing that kind of stuff.
13:22
I think that I wouldn't have the patience to do it because I couldn't wait for the corn to grow.
13:27
I would be so impatient.
13:29
It's kind of like watching paint dry.
13:30
Yeah.
13:30
So when do you plant?
13:31
You plant in the middle of May.
13:33
Middle of May.
13:35
And how long does it take until you're ready to put your design and your plan into the corn maze?
13:41
So we plant the whole field first.
13:43
And then that's the beginning of May, middle of June.
13:45
It's about three or four inches tall.
13:47
And then we kind of grid the whole field out.
13:50
And then we have blueprints that we kind of follow.
13:54
We mark the design on the ground with paint.
13:58
And then we just rototill out the corn we don't need.
14:00
That's how you do it.
14:01
I was wondering.
14:02
Yeah.
14:02
And then we let it grow.
14:04
Okay, I was way off.
14:05
Because I thought you let the corn grow to full height.
14:08
And then like you just did an aerial thing.
14:10
So I was obviously way.
14:12
Your way is much better.
14:13
Don't do my way.
14:14
My way wouldn't work.
14:15
That's pretty incredible.
14:16
Well, now there's technology, too, that you can just plant it directly where...
14:20
Really?
14:21
Yeah.
14:22
The corn planters will plant corn in the pattern that you want it.
14:25
And that's how it grows?
14:27
And do you do that or...
14:27
No, we still do it the same way we did it 25 years ago.
14:29
But that's pretty cool.
14:30
So when it's about...
14:31
What did you say?
14:31
It was about four or five inches high?
14:33
Yeah.
14:33
And then you map it out then?
14:35
Yeah.
14:35
And do that?
14:36
Yeah.
14:36
That's really cool.
14:37
All right.
14:38
So this is really cool, folks, because if you've never been to a corn maze, it is a bit daunting at first because you look at it and you go...
14:46
I'm never getting out of here.
14:47
Well, as the little five-year-old girl, six-year-old girl told me, you'll never get out.
14:50
But anyway, and so it's pretty cool when you do it.
14:54
And every year, you guys have a different theme in the corn maze.
14:59
How do you come up with the theme?
15:01
How do you do that?
15:02
What do you decide on?
15:03
This year is what?
15:04
Little potato company.
15:07
Yeah, every year we try and do something kind of local that we can get people excited about.
15:13
And over the winter, we brainstorm and come up with some ideas and sometimes people are interested in working with us and other times we go search it out.
15:22
Yeah, and then we send the ideas over to the maze designer and they kind of make it into a workable maze.
15:30
It's a fine line between being too hard and too easy.
15:33
Yeah, roughly people, they want to be out there for 30 minutes to an hour.
15:37
And that's the then they come back with the blueprint and we go from there.
15:42
So there's actual maze designers.
15:44
Yeah, the same company in Utah, that's what they do.
15:48
This is just blowing me away that there's people that do this professionally.
15:51
This is, I mean, not professionally, but that there's an actual business that does that for you.
15:55
That's really incredible.
15:56
Yeah, because, and you know what, it was, if I remember correctly, a couple of weeks ago, we were about, I think I timed it about 40 minutes in the maze.
16:03
That's how long it took.
16:04
That's about what, but much longer than that and you start getting super frustrated.
16:08
Yeah, and a little, and if it's sitting shorter than that, then people get kind of, yeah, I'm not embarrassed to tell you that I was, we were with Soren and Beau and Soren is what, four years old.
16:17
Soren led the way.
16:18
Well, he did.
16:19
He led, uncle Cam follow me! And that's, I just followed him and he got us out.
16:23
That's usually how it goes.
16:24
I do have a question.
16:25
Have you ever had to rescue anybody from the corn maze?
16:28
Quite often.
16:28
Really?
16:29
We've got people walking out there keeping an eye on you and some people want help and some people don't.
16:34
Yeah.
16:35
So there's actually people that get a little disoriented.
16:39
Sometimes they get, and there's usually one or two spots where everyone kind of gets stuck so you can put someone there and- I was going to say, is it like when you go to the transit station and there's that help phone and... Is there's a help phone in the corn maze?
16:51
I didn't see any help phone along the way.
16:53
I did at one point mention to the group, if I started screaming, would someone come and they told me to just not, stop, just don't even go there.
17:01
But yeah, so do you have people walking through on a regular basis?
17:05
Yeah.
17:05
Are they undercover?
17:06
Because I never saw them.
17:07
Undercover.
17:08
Well, I just didn't know who they were.
17:10
All these people walking through there.
17:12
We've got corn cops.
17:13
Corn cops.
17:14
Corn cops.
17:15
Corn cops.
17:15
While we're walking through.
17:16
Corn cops.
17:17
I love it, corn cops.
17:18
Undercover corn cops.
17:20
Step away from the corn.
17:21
But it is, it actually is, it's a cool feeling because the corn grows to how high?
17:27
Like...
17:28
Between 8 and 10 feet tall.
17:29
Yeah, it's pretty high.
17:30
It is quite high.
17:31
So you're in this wall of corn, looking up at the blue sky, looking down at the little path, the earth that you're on.
17:38
It is, it's kind of cool, actually.
17:39
It's a neat feeling to go through there.
17:41
Yeah.
17:41
Like it really is.
17:42
And the kids love it.
17:42
They're just running through and trying this path and trying that path.
17:46
And if it doesn't work, come back this way.
17:49
And then your bridge.
17:50
I love your bridge because you get to go up unto your bridge and see where you've been and where you're going.
17:57
That was a bridge.
17:58
At first, when I drove by it, you can see the bridge from the highway a little bit.
18:01
And I thought that's where the corn cops sit up there and they watch the whole thing. They monitor or the lost people.
18:07
Yeah, they monitor the maze, but that wasn't true.
18:09
So your first year you did this, what were your challenges?
18:14
What did you find was a challenge doing this for the first time ever?
18:18
You and Dan not having a clue about how to do this?
18:22
Making sure the corn grew.
18:25
Making sure that the design was in there.
18:27
And then you don't know if people are going to show up or anything.
18:31
So yeah, you kind of are just if you build it, they will come is the classic cornfield thing.
18:37
And over the years, like when you go to the corn maze, folks, it's not just the corn maze.
18:41
You have tons of stuff to do there.
18:43
You really expanded it over the years.
18:46
Yeah, we started off with just the cornfield and that was about it.
18:48
And now we've added all sorts of other activities at farm animals, jumping pillows, picnic spots and just lots of stuff to make your...
18:56
Those jumping, is that what you call them?
18:59
Like trampolines, those jumping pillows are amazing.
19:02
The kids love those.
19:03
And they're like big bubbles coming out of the ground that you must be blowing air into them or something.
19:08
That was unbelievable.
19:09
The kids love that.
19:10
And you have animals, you have chickens.
19:13
Yep.
19:13
We saw the chickens.
19:14
You have pigs.
19:15
Pigs.
19:16
You have goats.
19:17
That you fed and got in trouble for feeding them.
19:18
And they got little bubble gum machines where you can buy for a quarter some oats and feed the goat.
19:24
And I had Doritos and I fed the goat Dorito.
19:27
And he ate them, man.
19:28
It was like gone.
19:30
Dorito done.
19:31
And then I'm looking around to make sure nobody...
19:33
I thought one of the corn cops would come over and be like, don't feed the goats.
19:36
But that's kind of cool.
19:37
And then you also sell pumpkins.
19:40
Yep.
19:40
We got pumpkins and sunflowers earlier in the year.
19:42
Yes.
19:43
Everybody was buying...
19:44
You have beautiful sunflowers.
19:46
People love that.
19:46
How did that start?
19:47
Like you just...
19:48
We planted a few to add some color and then people love that.
19:52
And they want to get their photos out there and do that kind of thing and take some of it home with them too.
19:57
Yeah.
19:57
No, they really are...
19:58
They're beautiful sunflowers.
19:59
They're really nice.
20:01
So when do you open usually?
20:03
You open...
20:04
Usually the end of July, once the corn is six, seven feet tall.
20:08
And go till...
20:09
A week or two after Thanksgiving, it kind of depends a little bit on the weather.
20:13
Once you get snow, it's not near as much fun out there.
20:17
So how many people do you estimate would go through the corn maze every year here in Edmonton?
20:21
It's depending a lot on the weather, but somewhere around 50,000 people.
20:25
Really?
20:26
50,000 people.
20:27
That's a lot of people.
20:28
Are you the only corn maze in Edmonton?
20:30
There is a few smaller ones a little further out and stuff, but we're the closest and we're...
20:35
50,000.
20:36
That's a decent number of people coming through.
20:38
There's lots of footsteps out there.
20:40
Yeah, I bet.
20:41
It's really incredible.
20:43
And so a lot of maintenance.
20:45
You had a great staff, by the way, when I was out there.
20:47
They're very helpful.
20:49
They're all over the place.
20:50
They're nice.
20:51
They've got a smile on their face, which that's a bonus when there's a ton of kids around because it can get wearing a lot of maintenance.
20:59
It's like everything.
21:00
You just got to keep on top of things.
21:01
And as the season goes, those things start to wear down and get tired.
21:05
But yeah, it's all stuff to do, but it's good.
21:10
That's pretty cool.
21:11
So you and Dan, do you both have families?
21:14
Yeah.
21:15
So is this a family affair?
21:16
It's mostly our kids out there working.
21:21
So this is the reason that Jesse is here today.
21:26
How old are your kids?
21:27
They're about 15 to 18 years old.
21:30
So they don't have to work today.
21:31
They're hopefully in school.
21:33
They're all in school.
21:34
Slave labor laws have been enacted.
21:37
And do they like doing it or is it like, oh, man?
21:40
They've grown up with it and it's good.
21:42
How many staff do you hire?
21:43
Because there's a lot of people.
21:44
Over the busy day, there's 20 people there working.
21:47
And then on a slower day, there's just a handful of us.
21:51
Yeah.
21:51
I thought it was really great.
21:52
Really, really well run.
21:54
Is this something you think your kids will want to carry on when you, I mean, do they have corn maze ambition or?
22:03
We'll see. Succession.
22:07
There's no plans right now, but we'll, who knows?
22:10
See where it goes.
22:12
Yeah.
22:12
I mean, it's a great business.
22:14
It is a great business.
22:15
Yeah.
22:16
So what do you do then, Jesse, outside of the corn maze season?
22:20
Yeah, for the rest of the year.
22:20
Do you get to go on vacation in Hawaii?
22:22
Do you just get to live your best life?
22:24
Where is Jesse and Dan? They're gone.
22:27
It's surprising how much extra stuff there is on before and after.
22:32
By the time we're done and you clean up and do a few projects, and then spring comes pretty quick every year.
22:38
So it's basically a full-time thing for us now.
22:41
Yeah.
22:42
We've got animals to keep up with.
22:44
Oh, yeah.
22:45
A few other things, so it- Does anyone live out there?
22:48
There's a little house there.
22:49
Yeah, we live close.
22:49
Oh, okay.
22:50
Yeah, yeah.
22:50
You live close by?
22:51
No, it's a different pace in the winter, but we're still busy.
22:55
So yeah, I guess there's a lot to do to get prepared for the new year and all that you're going to do and decide on your maze.
23:03
And yeah, planning and all that kind of stuff.
23:05
So have you ever had- And so every year you have a different design in the corn maze.
23:11
Any year, somebody didn't like a design or you get feedback on a design.
23:16
It's been up and down a little bit sometimes.
23:18
There's always someone who doesn't like something.
23:20
But it's all good.
23:23
I mean, you wouldn't even, you wouldn't even, unless you see the aerial shot.
23:26
Yeah, you don't even know.
23:28
Once you're in it, you don't have a clue.
23:31
Yeah, there's a bit of the media like certain things and not other things.
23:34
And yeah, but yeah.
23:37
Is there a certain type of corn you grow?
23:39
It's a field, it's a feed corn.
23:40
So a cow corn.
23:41
It's cattle corn, so it's silage.
23:43
I was going to ask, what do you do when the corn maze is done?
23:46
What do you do with the corn?
23:48
Most of it's silage, but in the last few years, we've, there's a lot of West Africans who, it's the kind of corn that they grow back home.
23:57
Really?
23:57
So we've had lots of people from West Africa coming and picking it and it reminds them of being back at home.
24:06
Really?
24:06
So they eat it?
24:08
Oh yeah, they don't like the sweet corn that comes.
24:10
Okay, so I wasn't wrong when I was walking through there, because I said I bet people could eat this corn.
24:15
You did say that.
24:15
And some of the people I was with, they said no.
24:19
And I said no, yeah.
24:20
Was it your daughter?
24:21
Did she tell you you were wrong?
24:25
My university daughter needed to fill me in on, because what I did say was, wouldn't it be something if it reached like 110 degrees and the corn popped?
24:35
But then she filled me in that it takes more than 110 degrees for corn to pop anyway.
24:39
Yes.
24:40
But it doesn't taste very good if you're used to good sweet corn.
24:43
Taber corn or something like that.
24:44
So we got people sneaking at home and they were pretty disappointed.
24:48
Are you serious? Putting it in their pockets.
24:50
They actually try to sneak it?
24:54
They got their purse full of- Oh, my goodness.
24:57
Purse full of corn.
24:58
This is where you need the corn cops.
25:00
Because it's like, back away from the corn.
25:03
Stay away from the corn.
25:05
That's really funny.
25:07
I didn't know that.
25:07
Yes.
25:11
See, there's way more to a corn maze than just going through the corn maze.
25:15
This is pretty incredible if you ask me.
25:17
I think it is.
25:18
I'm just amazed by all of this.
25:20
This is really something.
25:22
So do you guys harvest the corn or somebody comes in?
25:25
One of the local dairy farmer comes in and he'll silage it all.
25:29
He does it for you.
25:30
Feed the cows over the winter.
25:31
And then they till up the ground, obviously, and year after year.
25:35
So does the ground ever get ground fatigue or anything?
25:38
It's just, or it doesn't really matter.
25:40
It's fine for what we need.
25:42
You probably don't get the greatest yields all the time, but for us.
25:46
Well, it looked like this year, you had a good, a really good, it's.
25:50
We had timely rains and heat now, so it's been good.
25:53
I was going to say, what does it take to grow corn?
25:56
Like what kind of environment?
25:57
Does it do well up here?
25:59
It does okay.
25:59
Like most of the corn is grown, like the corn belt in the States.
26:03
It's a little bit hotter and a little bit, it needs lots of heat units.
26:05
Yeah.
26:06
But it seems to be getting warmer and warmer here.
26:09
Yeah, yeah.
26:10
And falls extend a little bit.
26:11
You might be going into November pretty soon.
26:13
Yeah.
26:14
So when you did your corn maze for the first time, did you invite your mom and dad up to take a look and compare the corn maze?
26:20
Yeah.
26:21
It was a little bit of friendly competition.
26:23
Do they still do their one in Lacombe?
26:24
Yeah.
26:25
My brother is doing it.
26:25
Oh, your brother is doing it?
26:26
Yeah.
26:28
So you check each other's corn mazes out?
26:30
Yeah.
26:30
It's friendly competition.
26:31
Yeah.
26:32
And who wins every year?
26:33
Yeah.
26:34
Because you said it was competition.
26:38
So like.
26:39
It just keeps us honest.
26:42
That's pretty cool.
26:42
So a corn maze family.
26:43
It's a corn maze family.
26:44
Yeah.
26:45
I do.
26:45
I think that I actually think that's really neat and kept it in the family and kept doing it.
26:49
And Dan, are you related to Dan?
26:52
No.
26:53
We're just friends.
26:53
And so how did you meet?
26:54
Did you meet in university?
26:55
Yeah.
26:55
We were at school together and he comes from Ontario originally.
26:59
So he's got a bit of experience with corn, like not necessarily corn mazes.
27:04
Yeah.
27:05
There's a bit more corn grown there.
27:07
So like, how did that go?
27:08
Were you like in university one day, like sitting doing homework, like doing algebra or something?
27:13
And one of you just said, hey, you want to do a corn maze or that's about how it went?
27:16
Yeah, that's kind of how it went.
27:18
Give it a try.
27:19
And the next thing you know, we're standing out in the middle of the field with a bag of corn seed.
27:26
I love this story.
27:28
This is the true Alberta way, isn't it?
27:30
No, it really is.
27:30
Like entrepreneurs.
27:31
Who would do this?
27:32
Like, this is incredible and be so successful at it.
27:35
And yeah, the first year, we didn't know if there'd be a second year.
27:38
Yeah.
27:39
It keeps going every year.
27:40
How many people do you think went through in the first year?
27:45
I can't remember.
27:46
That was about 20,000 or something.
27:48
So really, that's still pretty good.
27:50
So yeah, it was good.
27:52
People enjoyed it.
27:53
And did you feel like you were on to something and we could grow this and make this?
27:57
It was good.
27:58
It was coming from nothing.
27:59
It felt like a lot of people.
28:01
And do you get a lot of media support?
28:03
Yeah, every year the media get most people coming out and have a look.
28:07
And word of mouth is still the greatest thing.
28:10
When you get people coming out and then the next week they set up friends and it's good.
28:15
Well, I'm going to say it again because I think it's worth saying.
28:18
So we purposely went because we knew we were going to have you on the podcast.
28:23
And so I thought I guess I better go to the corn maze and see if I can make it through.
28:27
But A, it wasn't that expensive for a family.
28:32
It wasn't that bad considering we were there a good, I'm going to say two and a half, three hours.
28:37
Because we couldn't get the kids off the bubble thing.
28:41
It was like, can we play more?
28:44
Go ahead, just go ahead.
28:45
And can you come?
28:46
Nope, sign right here says, I'm too big to go on that.
28:48
So you just go do that.
28:50
And they loved that.
28:51
And then, so it wasn't that expensive.
28:54
It was good value.
28:55
But I'm going to also say this, Jesse, to you, because I think it's important.
29:00
You know, it costs a lot of money to take your family out to anything these days.
29:03
You know that.
29:04
And so you get there.
29:06
And then sometimes you get into to something like this and then you want some, excuse me, some snacks or or whatever you have.
29:14
And they jack the price up on that stuff.
29:16
Like they really do.
29:18
Kind of like going to an Oilers game, like eight bucks for a bottle of water.
29:21
I was so pleasantly surprised because we had to get water.
29:24
It was a hot day.
29:25
And the kids wanted ice cream, of course, and they wanted Doritos, which we fed to the goat.
29:30
And I have to say that every item we purchased, I actually said to the lady at the concession, I said, Are you sure?
29:37
Because this doesn't seem right.
29:38
It was such a reasonable price, which meant a family wasn't dishing out a ton more money for a day at the corn maze.
29:46
So kudos to you guys.
29:48
I think that's fantastic.
29:49
Thank you.
29:49
Yeah, we want to provide value to families.
29:52
We know money is tight.
29:54
If we can provide some value, and people can enjoy themselves with their kids, or even by themselves, it's good.
30:01
Yeah, matter of fact, I'm just going to say this.
30:03
I was at a birthday party on Sunday in the park, and the ice cream man came along.
30:08
And of course, you know...
30:10
You probably spent a lot more money at the ice cream man.
30:12
I'm telling you, the same thing I paid $2.50 for, I think it was $2.50 at the corn maze, $2.50 for, I paid, no word of a lie, $6 from the ice cream man.
30:23
And I let the ice cream man know.
30:26
I said, no offense sir, listen, thanks for coming around, six bucks! I just spent at another...
30:32
I didn't say the name, because I didn't want to get the corn maze involved in a price war.
30:37
I was at another, $2.50 for the same thing.
30:39
He's like, well, I got gas.
30:41
I'm like, well, you should see what they got, head over there.
30:44
But anyway, so yeah, kudos to you guys.
30:46
I think that was really cool.
30:47
That was good.
30:48
So, you got, what we're in September, middle of September, you got another about a month and a half left.
30:53
Five or six weeks.
30:54
Six weeks left.
30:55
Yeah.
30:55
And schools back in, do school groups come through, or how does the weekdays go now that kids are back in school?
31:02
We get lots of school groups coming through, and then lots of people on dates and families and young kids.
31:08
And it's good.
31:09
And then the weekends, oh yeah.
31:11
There's a, wow.
31:12
There's a not.
31:13
What time are you open till?
31:15
It could either go really well or really bad.
31:17
It could either make or break the date.
31:19
I was gonna say, it could be the first date and the last date, or it could be the...
31:24
There's been some of both.
31:26
I left her in the maze.
31:27
I know.
31:28
You're fighting.
31:29
I'm out of the parking lot while she's still trying to get out.
31:32
Yeah, that, what time are you open till?
31:35
We go, we're open every day until eight o'clock, or Tuesday to Saturday, and Sunday's one to five.
31:41
Do you, so it's kind of starting to get dark around eight, I think, now.
31:45
Yeah.
31:46
Do you, do you, can you still go through it?
31:48
You bet! Bring your flashlight, wander around in the dark.
31:50
Come on! Serious?
31:53
Yeah.
31:53
I want to do that.
31:54
It's a little spooky around the corners.
31:56
Yeah.
31:56
Oh, yeah.
31:57
I want to do that.
31:58
I want to, that, I didn't, I thought maybe when it got dark, you shut er down.
32:01
No, that's when all the, yeah, it's a lot of time wandering around the town.
32:05
Have you had any marriage proposals?
32:07
There has been a few.
32:09
Yeah.
32:09
They came on their first date, and then three or four years later, they come back for a marriage proposal.
32:14
This is great.
32:14
This is just great.
32:16
Whereas, this is awesome.
32:18
Bring it, take, so listen, guys, seriously, I'm not even kidding you.
32:21
If you're listening and you live around here, and you've been seeing her for a while, get on with it and get down to the corn maze, and take her to the corn maze, take her on a date, and then just propose to her at the corn maze.
32:33
Sure.
32:33
That works.
32:33
Have you had any weddings at the corn maze?
32:36
No.
32:36
Not that I know of.
32:37
Not that you know of.
32:38
We should work on that.
32:39
Maybe.
32:40
You take her on your first date, you get engaged and you get married at the corn maze.
32:44
That'd be cool.
32:45
Well, you never know.
32:46
There's a first for everything.
32:47
No, there is a first for everything.
32:48
I think that's really cool.
32:49
Well, that's really awesome.
32:51
Today- You've learned a lot, haven't you?
32:52
No, I really have.
32:53
I was so excited about today because you know there's more to it than just some guys throwing corn seed out in a field.
33:00
There's a lot to it and it's really incredible.
33:03
You guys do an amazing thing for the City of Edmonton and surrounding, of course.
33:09
I just think it's great and I'm excited for next year already.
33:12
That's true.
33:13
Yeah.
33:14
Do you know next year's or you'll wait till winter to- We've got a few things possible.
33:21
Can companies sponsor?
33:24
Sure.
33:25
All right.
33:25
If you're listening, any businesses and we have a lot of businesses that listen to us, this would be great advertising right here is the corn maze.
33:34
I think 50,000 people.
33:36
That's phenomenal.
33:36
And you should call these guys up and have a little chat with them.
33:40
Do you have a website?
33:41
Yes, EdmontonCornMaze.ca.
33:43
EdmontonCornMaze.ca.
33:45
And so maybe what you could do is take them to the corn maze and then take them to Wing Snob.
33:51
That's a great idea.
33:51
That's what I think because there's a Wing Snob right there in Edgemont.
33:54
That's right.
33:54
And you could head over to Edgemont.
33:56
That's like 10 minutes away.
33:57
Either before or after.
33:58
Before or after.
33:59
Yeah.
34:00
Well, you work up quite a little appetite going through the corn maze.
34:02
You can take them with you.
34:03
Really?
34:04
Mark your trail with the bones.
34:08
Jesse, the other thing which I thought was really cool is you let dogs come in.
34:11
You bet.
34:12
Yeah.
34:12
Yeah.
34:12
Bring your pets.
34:13
Perfect.
34:14
There was like, and the kids love it.
34:16
The kids we were with, they had to go pet the dogs and see the dogs.
34:19
And it was really cool because I thought, well, maybe they wouldn't do that.
34:23
But you did.
34:23
And I think it adds to it.
34:25
People enjoy their dogs walking out there.
34:28
So it's good.
34:29
It was really cool.
34:30
So there's tons to do.
34:32
You had a food truck there if you want.
34:34
I think that day at a hamburger, excuse me, had a hamburger truck there.
34:38
So it was kind of cool.
34:39
Yeah.
34:40
Lots of entertainment and good value for your family.
34:43
Really is.
34:43
It really is, folks.
34:44
And it's fun and the kids love it.
34:46
And they'll want to stay all day because there's just so much to do and hang out.
34:50
Buy a pumpkin.
34:51
Yep.
34:51
Buy pumpkins.
34:52
And we got a farmer's market with all sorts of other stuff too.
34:55
And I didn't see that.
34:58
How did I miss that?
34:59
The kids were probably going crazy over there.
35:02
And sunflowers.
35:04
You can still buy sunflowers.
35:05
There's a few left.
35:05
Is there?
35:06
And they're beautiful.
35:07
And yeah, it was fantastic.
35:10
Well, we've learned a lot, Cam.
35:13
I'm a better person today than I was an hour ago because of it.
35:18
Again, I'm kind of being serious about that because you just kind of take it for granted and you drive by or you go to it.
35:26
And there's so much more to it.
35:28
Well, again, there's always a story behind the story.
35:30
Always a story behind the story.
35:33
I wish Dan could have come.
35:34
It would have been fun.
35:35
But Jesse, you did a great job.
35:37
We got one more final question that we ask all of our guests.
35:41
Everybody gets asked this question.
35:42
So Jesse, what is the best piece of advice you've been given, either personally or professionally, that you carry with you to this day?
35:51
Oh, boy, I don't know.
35:53
Just put a smile on your face.
35:55
And for us, we just want to make people happy and meet them.
35:59
Just provide some experience so they can have lots of fun being away from the rest of their life.
36:05
So wandering around in circles sometimes isn't the end of the world.
36:09
It really is great, actually.
36:13
One day I'll send you all the videos and all the commentary I had as I was going through, because it was fun.
36:19
Yeah, life's not a straight path.
36:20
No, it's not.
36:22
And sometimes you take a wrong turn, but the beauty is you eventually make your way out.
36:26
You make your way out.
36:27
And if not, there's people to help you out.
36:30
The corn cops will help you out.
36:33
Yeah, so really, it was really cool.
36:35
And folks, listen, if you're in this area, it's well worth it.
36:39
Take your family, take your friends, guys.
36:42
You know, if you're struggling to figure out what to do on a date, it's worth it.
36:46
It is.
36:47
It would be a great date.
36:48
Absolutely.
36:49
I think.
36:49
Head down there this weekend.
36:50
It's going to be beautiful.
36:51
Oh, yeah.
36:52
It's going to be beautiful this weekend.
36:53
So take advantage of it while you can.
36:56
And fantastic.
36:57
Thank you so much.
36:57
Thank you so much.
36:59
You're wearing a great hoodie.
37:00
A great...
37:01
Edmonton, do you sell those hoodies?
37:02
We've got hoodies at the maze too.
37:03
How come?
37:04
See, I'd have bought a hoodie.
37:05
Because you probably didn't go into the store area.
37:06
I know I didn't.
37:07
I'm going back just to do that.
37:08
You will.
37:09
Those are great hoodies.
37:11
I'd wear that hoodie everywhere.
37:12
So that's fantastic.
37:14
Thanks, everybody.
37:15
Listen, I want to remind you, hey, if you don't know what to do for dinner tonight, check out Wing Snob.
37:20
16 flavors, 4 rubs, fantastic wings.
37:23
The best you'll find.
37:24
Hey, I think we're having Mike Chadi on pretty soon.
37:27
We are to talk about Wing of the Month.
37:29
That's right.
37:29
We're going to do a special segment called Wing Flavor of the Month.
37:33
I can't wait.
37:34
Because you know why?
37:35
Mike's going to bring us wings.
37:37
He's going to bring us that flavor that day.
37:40
It'll be great.
37:40
So we can try it out.
37:41
So make sure you check out Wing Snob www.wingsnob.ca and Mprint.
37:48
If you're looking to get something done, business cards, whatever you need.
37:51
Maybe you want your truck wrap.
37:52
Maybe you need your business trucks wrapped.
37:54
Check out Mprint in Acheson.
37:59
www.mprint.ca That's right.
38:00
So thanks everybody for listening.
38:02
We appreciate it.
38:03
Make sure you tell everybody about the podcast.
38:06
Tell your friends, tell your neighbors, tell your enemies, tell your work people.
38:10
If you don't have a friend, just go and make one so you can tell them about the podcast.
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And just, we got listeners all around the world now.
38:19
Thank you everybody for listening and Subscribe.
38:22
Subscribe, subscribe, subscribe.
38:24
www.coffeeinthepark.com.
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Check us out.
38:30
All our past podcasts are there.
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We got profiles on our guests, all kinds of stuff.
38:35
And just want to say thanks everybody for listening.
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And we'll see you next time.
38:39
Thanks, everyone, see you next time.