From Small-Town Farm to Entertainment Destination: The Story Behind The Award-Winning Collins Farm Corn Maze

When most people picture a small-town farm in New Hampshire, they probably imagine rows of vegetables, tractors, greenhouses, and long days spent working in the soil.

They may not immediately picture flashlight adventures, haunted trails, escape-room puzzles, foam dance parties, wagon rides, special events, and a massive corn maze carved into a field.

At Collins Farm in Bath, New Hampshire, we are working to bring those two worlds together.

Our goal is not simply to grow crops. We are trying to grow a destination—a place where families, friends, school groups, businesses, and visitors from across New Hampshire and Vermont can come to make lasting memories.

Building Something Different in a Small Town

Creating an entertainment destination in a rural community comes with a unique set of challenges.

There is no large corporate team planning our attractions. There is no massive amusement park budget. Most of the work is completed by 2-3 people who are also planting, mowing, watering, weeding, harvesting, repairing equipment, building props, answering messages, designing advertisements, and preparing the farm for visitors.

Every new attraction begins as an idea. Sometimes that idea is sketched on paper. Sometimes it is discussed while riding on a tractor. Sometimes it comes in the middle of the night, followed by a long list of materials that need to be found, purchased, built, painted, or repurposed.

Then comes the real question:

How do we turn that idea into something guests will genuinely enjoy?

That process requires creativity, patience, experimentation, and a willingness to build things differently from the way a traditional farm—or a traditional entertainment business—might operate.

More Than Just a New Hampshire Corn Maze

There is something special about walking into a field where the corn rises above your head and every turn feels like a new decision. Visitors can compete with friends, work together as a family, search for checkpoints, solve challenges, or simply enjoy the experience of getting a little lost.

But we have always believed a corn maze can be more than a path through a field.

That is why we continue developing different ways for guests to experience the farm.

During the day, the maze offers an outdoor adventure surrounded by the scenery of rural New Hampshire. On select evenings, the experience changes completely during our Flashlight Maze. Guests enter after dark and navigate the trails using only their flashlights.

Later in the fall, the farm takes on another personality during the Haunted Maze, when actors, props, darkness, and unexpected surprises transform the cornfield into a much more intense attraction.

Each experience uses the same land, but creates a completely different memory.

Creating New Attractions One Project at a Time

Developing a farm attraction means constantly asking what else the property could become.

Could part of the farm become an outdoor escape-room experience?

Could a wooded trail become an interactive adventure?

Could an ordinary evening become a flashlight event?

Could a field become a dance party filled with music and foam?

Could a visit to a small New Hampshire farm feel like a full family outing rather than a quick stop?

Those questions have helped guide the growth of Collins Farm.

Over time, we have explored and developed experiences such as:

• Daytime corn maze adventures

• Flashlight maze nights

• Haunted corn maze events

• Outdoor escape challenges

• Interactive puzzle stations

• Foam dance parties

• Wagon and animal experiences

• Seasonal family activities

• Group and corporate events

  
  

Not every idea is simple, and not every idea works perfectly the first time. Some attractions require rebuilding. Some need to be simplified. Others grow into something larger than originally expected... That is part of the process.

A small business does not always have the ability to unveil a perfectly polished attraction overnight. Instead, we build, test, listen, adjust, and improve.

Farming and Entertainment Have More in Common Than People Think

Farming and event planning may appear to be completely different industries, but they share many of the same lessons.

Both depend on timing.

Both are affected by weather.

Both require planning months before the public sees the final result.

Both involve investing time and money without knowing exactly how the season will turn out.

A corn maze, for example, begins long before opening day. The field must be prepared and planted. The maze design must be planned around the size and shape of the property. Trails must be wide enough for guests but also created in a way that farm equipment can physically navigate. Then the corn needs to grow.

Too much rain, too little rain, cold temperatures, heat, wildlife, weeds, and equipment problems can all affect the finished attraction.

While the corn is growing, we are working on everything around it: signs, games, decorations, lighting, safety plans, parking, ticketing, advertising, concessions, special events, and dozens of smaller details most visitors will never see.

By the time guests arrive, the hope is that all of those moving pieces feel like one complete experience.

Why Create an Entertainment Destination in Bath, New Hampshire?

Small towns deserve memorable attractions too.

Families in northern New Hampshire and Vermont should not always have to drive several hours to find something different to do. Local teenagers deserve places where they can have fun with friends. Parents deserve affordable opportunities to step away from screens and spend time together.

Visitors traveling through the region should have another reason to stop, explore, and support local businesses.

Bath, New Hampshire, may be a small town, but small does not have to mean limited.

In many ways, the rural setting is one of our greatest advantages. The darkness feels darker during a flashlight maze. The trees, fields, and river create a setting that cannot be duplicated inside a commercial building. The experience feels personal because it is being created by people who live and work on the property.

Guests are not walking through an attraction that was shipped from a corporate warehouse and assembled exactly the same way in twenty different states.

They are visiting something built specifically for this farm.

The Reality Behind a Growing Agritourism Business

There is a romantic image of owning a farm attraction: smiling families, beautiful autumn foliage, busy weekends, and a field full of healthy corn.

The reality also includes broken equipment, muddy parking areas, last-minute repairs, weather cancellations, rising material costs, and many hours spent wondering whether enough people will attend to justify the next investment.

A small-town entertainment business has to earn every visitor.

We rely heavily on word of mouth, social media, local advertising, returning customers, and guests who choose to support a locally owned attraction.

Every ticket purchase matters.

Every shared social media post matters.

Every positive review matters.

When someone tells a friend about the farm or returns with a larger group, that support helps us continue building new attractions and improving the experience.

A Place for Families, Friends, and Groups

One of the most rewarding parts of operating Collins Farm is seeing how differently people use the same space.

A family may visit during the day with young children.

A group of teenagers may return for a flashlight maze.

A couple may challenge each other to solve puzzles.

A business may bring employees for a team-building experience.

A school or youth group may use the farm as an opportunity to learn, explore, and work together.

Later in the season, horror fans may arrive specifically to experience the Haunted Maze.

The goal is to create enough variety that Collins Farm is not only a place someone visits once. We want guests to find a reason to return for a completely different adventure.

Growing Carefully Without Losing the Small-Town Experience

As Collins Farm grows, one of our biggest priorities is preserving the personal atmosphere that makes a small farm special.

We want to add more experiences, improve infrastructure, host larger events, and welcome more visitors. At the same time, we do not want the farm to feel impersonal.

Growth should make the experience better—not simply bigger. That means listening to guests, improving problem areas, creating clearer systems, and being thoughtful about which new attractions fit the farm. IT also means remembering why the experience matters. People may arrive because they saw an advertisement for a corn maze, haunted attraction, or special event. What they take home is the memory of laughing together, solving a challenge, getting lost, overcoming a fear, or trying something they had never done before.

That is what we are really trying to grow.

The Future of Collins Farm

The long-term vision for Collins Farm is to become one of the most unique family entertainment and agritourism destinations in northern New Hampshire.

That does not mean abandoning our farming roots. It means using the farm in creative new ways.

We want the land to remain at the center of the experience while continuing to develop seasonal events, interactive adventures, nighttime attractions, puzzles, group activities, and new reasons to visit throughout the year. There are still many projects to complete and plenty of lessons left to learn. Some ideas will change. Some will take years to fully develop. But each season brings us closer to the destination we imagine.

Come Be Part of the Story

Collins Farm is more than a cornfield and more than a collection of attractions.

It is a small-town farm attempting something ambitious. We are building a place where agriculture, creativity, entertainment, and community come together. We are doing it one trail, one prop, one event, and one guest experience at a time. When you visit Collins Farm, you are not only purchasing admission to an attraction. You are helping a local family farm continue grow

ing into something new.

We hope you will follow the journey, share the farm with your friends, and join us for an adventure in Bath, New Hampshire. To learn more about upcoming corn maze events, flashlight nights, haunted attractions, group experiences, and special events, visit collinsfarmllc.com.