Field Trip: Eliada Corn Maze
The best part about writing for the local website Kidding Around Greenville has been embracing the opportunity to explore our own adventures right here where we live.
Looking for article ideas for them has given me fresh eyes for discovering cool spots across the mountains in North Carolina and right here in our town too.
Last week the kids and I made our favorite over-the-hill drive (I just can never get enough of those mountains, no matter the season) to Asheville to a well known annual corn maze that I had only heard about but had never visited.
Eliada is an organization in Asheville that is doing really fabulous things for kids in foster care and kids in at-risk situations. (And you know I have this special place in my heart for kids with that story. Our family would not look the way it does without foster care.) One of the organization’s biggest fundraisers is this annual corn maze they host every year.
The campus of Eliada is simply beautiful – right outside of the city with a view that calms what troubles you, I think it’s a lovely spot to love on kids who need it.
I wrote this review for the Kidding Around Greenville website – but I like sharing them with you guys too. (And I always add more photos on my blog, because – well, because I can.)
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Nothing says autumn like rows and rows of corn.
Every year we try to make it to at least one corn maze.
In years past we’ve tried a few mazes in Hendersonville and we’ve always been pleased with our options.
This year, however, our family took the corn maze game up a notch and drove a little farther north right up to our neighbors in Asheville and visited the annual Eliada Corn Maze.
Eliada is an organization created to help at risk children succeed. They provide foster homes, group care, residential care for children after trauma, early childhood development, a unique school for both foster children and children in need, a trade school for older children aging out of the foster care system and much more. (It’s really a fabulous organization settled right down on a glorious hillside with celestial mountain views.)
The corn maze is one way that the organization raises funds for their services and facilities.
Knowing this information is important. One – because it provides an opportunity for us to be aware of the needs of many children. Two – because it allows us to realize that not only are we purchasing tickets for a pleasurable outing for our own family, our money is supporting many other families in trauma and in need.
Before You Go
The corn maze is open until October 31.
Closed on Monday and Tuesday.
Visit the website for the specific hours on the days you wish to visit.
Adults are $10.
Children ages 4 to 11 are $7.
Children under 3 are free.
There are special rates for groups of 20 or more.
This price includes all of their activities – hay rides, cow train ride, multiple corn mazes, small hay bale maze, spider web play area, giant slides, corn cob guns and giant checkers game.
This price does not include their new jumping pillow. That can be added for $3.
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The corn maze is located very near downtown Asheville and the directions on the website are clear and easy to follow, although the GPS directions are unreliable.
We pulled up to a giant field and parked where we saw other cars parking and followed the route to the first building. Once you enter the building you know you are in the right place, but from the outside it can appear a little confusing.
The staff are cordial and friendly and very helpful. The kids all received an arm band and we headed outside to survey the scene.
It is truly just such a pretty setting. Our day was one of those pleasantly warm days filled with sunshine after a long stretch of rain and we couldn’t help but smile at all the fun times waiting down the hill for us.
There is a large tent right beside the concessions stand with lots of clean picnic tables. You can bring your own food too. The concession stand had reasonably priced hot dogs and hamburgers and drinks and snacks. Even $2 cotton candy. And we are a family who just can’t seem to say no to $2 cotton candy.
First we tried the corn cannons. It’s just what it sounds like. You place ears of corn down a long tube and then you gleefully pull the trigger. It’s a very satisfying explosive sound and that corn shoots far far across the field.
You can walk down to the corn maze next and that’s a perfectly acceptable option.
However. You can also slide down to the corn maze in giant black corrugated tubes.
Of course we chose to slide. (Me too! It was fun. I highly recommend it. I bet your children will cheer for you just like mine did.)
We couldn’t seem to get right to the corn maze because there were so many other fun things to distract us. We all waited our turn for our time on the jumping pillow. It sounds a little – uh, corny – but it was actually loads of fun. A little different in feel from a trampoline and simply so gigantic and unusual that you just had to try it for yourself. (Jumping always reminds me of my age though and I could only jump for a rather limited time.)
The kids liked the novelty of the giant checkers game but each time we wanted to play there were lots of other kids playing so we never made our way back to the game again. Which was just fine, really.
Finally we trekked on over to the corn maze itself – the reason we drove that hour to Asheville.
At the corn maze you are presented with several options. There are two entrances that are more like corn walks than corn mazes – if that’s more your style. (And there’s no shame in that, friends.) We decided to warm up on one of those corn walks first. We chose the Jack and the Beanstalk Fairytale path. The route is laid out for your through the corn and all along the route there are cute signs that tell the story of Jack and the Beanstalk.
The other walking option was a spooky story and we decided we wanted to take the challenge of the actual maze instead.
There are two options for mazes – a long one and a short one.
One of the kids leapt right onto the long one and off we all went.
This one was tricky indeed for us – as all mazes should be. We did a pretty decent job of following the numbers for a long while but then, at some point, we knew we were just walking in circles, corn row circles, and we kept laughing as we passed the same sign over and over again.
After wandering in the corn for a hot while, we decided we’d better admit defeat and go back down the path we began. So we never actually saw some of our final numbers and I guess you could say we were defeated by the maze, but we had such a great time, I think I’d call us winners anyway. (Plus, I got to see my kids band together and help one another out. I saw piggy back rides offered and jokes given as gifts and encouraging words spoken. See? I told you it was a victory walk.)
After the corn maze we settled on crunchy bales of hay and took a little spin around the farm and through the corn field. It was nice that all the activities were included in one price so that the kids could really just enjoy whatever they wanted, as often as they liked.
The little cow train was a big hit too for my two youngest. What is it about being pulled along in a cart that is so appealing? I don’t know – but I think it’s universal.
We spent several hours there. We didn’t pack a picnic lunch this trip, but it would have been an easy place to do that. The staff at Eliada even had a wash up station under the tent so you could clean your picnic area for the next guests. They really had thought of everything to make your experience a day well spent where you truly felt as if you had the classic autumn experience of hay rides and corn mazes and beautiful mountain views.
I’m so glad we went – and I love that the cause is such a worthy one.
