Here, Shannon Brege and her daughter, Mary, chuckled as they spread out yard games in the grass.

There, Jena Grulke looked over a handmade sign while her father, Ralph Tulgestke, pulled in the tractor.

Here, Shannon’s husband, Scott, used a big piece of farm equipment to offload big spools that families will use as tables.

And there, Heidi Tulgestke — Ralph’s wife, Jena’s mother, and Scott’s sister — looked over the star of the show, 6 acres of head-high corn into which the family had carved this year’s Moltke Maize Maze.

News Photo by Justin A. Hinkley From left to right, Mary Brege, Scott Brege, Shannon Brege, Heidi Tulgestke and Jena Grulke pose recently inside the Moltke Maize Maze at the family farm northwest of Rogers City.

The maze — along with the yard games, a hayride, food trucks, and more — opens at noon Sept. 17 and runs every weekend through the end of October, with the last weekends dedicated to a haunted nighttime maze. The Breges and Tulgestkes expect hundreds of families to come out over the next month, trying their hand at three levels of challenges inside the corn maze, having family tournaments at the yard games, and otherwise enjoying what Shannon called “just old-fashioned family fun” on the farm.

Check out the video below. Viewing on mobile? Turn your device horizontally for the best viewing experience. Story continues below video.

But it all begins with that one big family having the time of their life setting things up.

“We all have the same goal,” Heidi said as her daughter, her niece, her husband, and her brother kept on working. “We all just love to be out here. We all just think it’s beautiful.”

“And we all love being with our families,” Shannon added, “so we want to promote others doing fun things and having fun with their family.”

News Photo by Justin A. Hinkley Scott Brege, left, and Heidi Tulgestke move a sign as the family readies the Moltke Maize Maze recently at the family farm northwest of Rogers City.

The first Moltke Maize Maze began two years ago as nothing more than an elaborate Halloween party for the family and some neighborhood kids.

“The first year was a complete experiment,” Heidi said.

The first maze covered about 2.5 acres on the family farm where the Tulgestkes raise cattle and grow corn, oats, and hay. They cut the maze with a tractor with a rototiller attachment, Heidi walking ahead of the tractor to guide it where to cut.

The second year, they decided to open to the general public and expanded the maze to about 5.5 acres. They decided to try spray paint to mark out the route of the maze for the tractor-rototiller combo. They threw out the field games and offered the hayride. They opened only for the weekends in October and offered the nighttime haunted maze.

About 650 people came out.

Ralph Tulgestke drives a tractor as he and his family recently prepare the Moltke Maize Maze at the family farm northwest of Rogers City.

“We were all happy with the results,” Shannon said.

For this, the family’s third year, they added yet another half-acre to the maze and decided to make it more involved. Heidi designed the maze on graph paper spread out over her dining room table.

“We knew we wanted to do some circles this year, so that was the heart of it,” Shannon said.

“So that’s where I started,” Heidi said. “And then I expanded around that.”

“We thought it was intricate last year, but then when we did this one, we were like, ‘Wow!'” Shannon said. “That one shouldn’t have taken any time last year for people to do.”

News Photo by Justin A. Hinkley Heid Tulgestke, left, and Shannon Brege recently discuss the three levels of challenges inside the Moltke Maize Maze at the family farm northwest of Rogers City.

The maze began when the corn went in the ground June 18.

“You plant it later so the corn stays greener longer,” Shannon said. “It’s planted both east-west and north-south — the grid fashion — so it’s thick so you can’t see through it.”

This year, they decided to mark out the path with flags instead of spray paint.

“We started out with one color, because initially we had the orange,” Heidi said. “But then we bought some green ones, which then we realized, don’t use green flags in the corn.”

Corn stalks are green.

News Photo by Justin A. Hinkley Mary Brege lays out yard games as she and her family ready the Moltke Maize Maze recently at the family farm northwest of Rogers City.

“Live and learn,” Shannon said. “It’s all a learning process.”

Cutting began around July 7, when the corn stood between ankle and knee high.

“We cut it in sections at a time,” Heidi said. “It would take two to three hours to flag a section, and then about the same to come in and cut it. The tractor would follow me. My brother-in-law, Mike, used his tractor with the rototiller.”

With the maze up, the family took to setting up the games, scheduling food trucks to visit the field, designing the challenges inside the corn maze.

At 10 a.m. Sept. 17, 10 teams from the Rogers City area will rush through the maze to complete the challenges, the times it takes them posted on the Moltke Maize Maze Facebook page for the public to try to beat.

“I’m really kind of excited about the hardest challenge that we have,” Heidi said. “I think the hardest challenge is gonna take a while.”

Decorations went up, with different characters installed around the field, each named after a family member. They’ll offer more than a dozen scares in the haunted maze, each station manned by a member of the family.

“If you think it’s gonna be a quick trip, you may want to think differently,” Shannon said. “You wanna spend the day here. It’s beautiful. It’s fun. It’s a great family place.”

“It’s a lot of work,” Heidi said. “It takes a lot of time. But I just love it when it all comes together and people are out here having a good time.”

Justin A. Hinkley can be reached at 989-354-3112 or jhinkley@thealpenanews.com. Follow him on Twitter @JustinHinkley.

If you go

∫ WHAT: Moltke Maize Maze

∫ WHEN: Noon to 6 p.m. Saturdays and noon to 5 p.m. Sundays Sept. 17 to Oct. 16; family-friendly flashlight maze 7:30 to 10:30 p.m. Sept. 30; haunted maze 7:30 to 10:30 p.m. Oct. 21 and 22 and 28 and 29

∫ WHERE: 3567 N. Curtis Road, Rogers City

∫ HOW MUCH: $10 per person, $30 per family of four or more, children 3 and younger free

∫ INFO: Admission includes entrance to the corn maze, which features three levels of challenges, plus a hayride and family field games. Food trucks will be on-site as many weekends as possible. The haunted maze is recommended for those 14 and older. For more information, search “Moltke Maize Maze” on Facebook.

News Photo by Justin A. Hinkley Scott Brege recently uses machinery at the family farm northwest of Rogers City to unload large spools that families will use as tables at the Moltke Maize Maze. The maze opens Sept. 17.

News Photo by Justin A. Hinkley Heidi Tulgestke, left, and Scott Brege move a sign with holes cut in it for families to take pictures with as the family readies the Moltke Maize Maze recently at the family farm northwest of Rogers City.

News Photo by Justin A. Hinkley Corn grows high recently at the Moltke Maize Maze northwest of Rogers City.

Newsletter

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)

• Daily Newsletter
• Breaking News
• Obituaries

Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *

• Yes
• No