#InTheLoop | The Dark Knight? Head to Queens Farm’s Maze by Moonlight
BY QEDC It's In Queens
Some might find it romantic. Others might think it’s scary. Still more might simply have a fun time in the fresh air as crickets chirp.
Queens County Farm Museum will operate Maze by Moonlight on two Saturday nights — Oct. 3 and Oct. 24 — this fall.
As the name suggests, the program is centered on a walk through a three-acre corn maze in the dark. Participants begin with a Stalk Talk to learn the rules of the challenge. Then, they find clues and solve puzzles as they make their way around the interactive labyrinth. (Flashlights encouraged.)
The goal is to find Victory Bridge and a Vincent van Gogh-inspired cornstalk masterpiece. The Dutch artist painted a series of exquisite sunflowers in vases with three shades of yellow in the 19th century. Thanks to some impressive engineering and a sponsorship by Con Edison, a van Gogh-inspired sunflower design is part of this year’s Amazing Maize Maze.
Ticket prices run from $10 for children to $15 for adults, but youngsters below age four can attend for free. The hours are 5:30 pm to 9:30 pm (with staggered entry at 5:30 pm and 7:30 pm) on both nights.
Queens Farm enforces NY Forward Covid-19 Safety Guidelines, including staggered entry, reduced capacity, and scaled back programming. As part of the effort, the Amazing Maize Maze paths are wider this year than in previous ones to promote social distancing.
The longest continuously farmed site in New York State, Queens Farm has NYC Landmark status and a listing on the National Registry of Historic Places. The 47-acre site features planting fields, an orchard, a vineyard, livestock, and the restored Cornell Farmhouse, which dates back to the Adriances, a Dutch-American family that lived there from 1697 to 1808.
Editor’s note: There are other great reasons to visit Queens Farm, whose entrance is 73-50 Little Neck Parkway in Glen Oaks, these days. Here are two of them.
Its on-site farmstand sells everything from spinach to freshly laid eggs to honey from local bees. It operates Wednesdays through Sundays from 11 am to 3 pm through Nov. 1, and the following payments are accepted: cash, credit cards, debit cards, SNAP/EBT, WIC, FMNP Checks, and Health Bucks Fresh Connect Checks.
Its apiary is the largest in NYC. Jointly operated with Cornell University’s Dyce Lab for Honey Bee Studies and Andrew Coté of Andrew’s Honey, this multi-colony dwelling is home to several dozen beehives and several hundred bees.