Get lost in a three-acre corn maze at the Queens County Farm Museum

One of the quirkiest things about Queens is that you can be officially in NYC while getting lost in a three-acre corn maze. The annual Amazing Maize Maze opened this past weekend at the Queens County Farm Museum (GMAP), and we jumped at the chance to partake in this urban/rural adventure.

Every year, the farm creates a different maze design with help from the American Maze Company. The 2012 theme is “Once Upon A Time,” so the clues and interactive features have to do with fairy tales. A “stalk talk” at the entrance explains how to solve the puzzles along the way. But whether you’re paying attention to the Magical Storybook Kingdom aspects of the labyrinth or not, you’ll get lost pretty quickly.

The fun, and disorienting, part of this corn kingdom is that you don’t have a map of the maze until you find the pieces of the map yourself. The maze is divided into nine districts, and each one has a hidden clue box revealing the pathways of only that district. So the more you wander, the more clear your route becomes.

You’ll be given a flag on a long pole, so the Maze Masters can keep track of who’s still lost. It takes an average of 45 minutes for each group to find their way out of the jumble of stalks. It took us (two adults) 40 minutes to find the exit, but we failed to solve the entire Kernels of Knowledge puzzle in that time.

The maze is open every weekend through October 28, and coincides with other farm events such as the Queens County Fair (September 22-23) and the Apple Festival (October 7). If you want to get extra lost, go in the evening on October 6 or 13, when the maze will be open until 9:00 pm and you’ll need flashlights to find your way out.