2017, our 18th year offering the corn maze is a pivotal year for Gearhard Farms. We are proud to announce that Generation 9 is stepping up to continue the stewardship our family has provided since 1769. Our daughter-in-law, Cassie is the maze designer this year. Having been raised in an Ohio farm family, it didn't take long for her to adopt our methods. Kudos to our Cassie on a super maze design!

We are also proud to announce that Generation 10 has arrived in time to participate in her first maze. Cassie and Mike were blessed with our sweet and yes perfect first grandchild! She arrived 5 days ahead of this year's maze opening day!

The clues given to our guests were as follows:

There are thirteen (13) characters; one overall design made up of five (5) smaller shapes. Additionally, throughout the maze are posted 13 questions. The answers to which are clues to help our guests with their quest of decoding the design.

The main design was the state flag featuring Pennsylvania's coat of arms. The five (5) smaller shapes consist of the banner across the bottom which on the flag has our motto, "Virtue, Liberty, Independence;" the shield; flanked by the two horses; and topped by the bald eagle. The 13 characters included the 2 years; the year Pennsylvania became a state, 1787 and this year, 2017 to designate the 230th birthday. We added a "P" and "A" in the shield and of course our signature characters "G" and "F" were placed in the upper left and right corners to finish the design.

We were pleased to have welcomed around 3200 guests including family, old friends and new friends during this season. Many maze solvers were close but only a few actually solved the entire theme.