‘World’s Largest Corn Maze’ just one of the ways to enjoy the day at Richardson Adventure Farm

SPRING GROVE – Clutching a Rice Krispies tulip pop and beaming a smile, 4-year-old Carter Weisenburger headed toward the Richardson Adventure Farm parking lot with his family.

Asked about his visit, Carter said what he liked best was “the little version of the slide.”

His 8-year-old brother, meanwhile, favored the main attraction, a little thing known as the World’s Largest Corn Maze.

“I liked the mystery part of it,” Grant Weisenburger said.

“It was kind of like a giant game of Clue, wasn’t it?” their mother, Heather Weisenburger, said.

Six members of the Weisenburger clan ventured from Huntley to enjoy the attractions on a beautiful fall Sunday. Grandparents Ed and Cheryl Weisenburger were there, along with their son, Kurt, his wife, Heather, and grandsons Carter and Grant.

“We had fun, didn’t we?” Ed Weisenburger said, adding it was his first visit to the farm, which is located at 909 English Prairie Road in Spring Grove.

Cheryl Weisenburger said she had been at the farm’s first-ever tulip festival in May.

“There’s a lot of fun things for kids to do here, and it was a lot of fun to watch them,” Ed Weisenburger said of the Richardson Adventure Farm.

“There’s a lot of things for older people to do, too,” Grant chimed in. “There’s something for everyone.”

One step beyond the admission gates and it’s clear the family wasn’t kidding. The list of fun activities is long – corn cannons; a carousel; live music on weekends; concessions and food trucks; picnic areas; a train ride around the grounds; a 50-foot-tall viewing tower; ring toss games; huge jumping pillows; pedal carts; a sliding hill; a petting zoo; pig races; a zip line; Zorbing; X-Treme Air; a 150-foot tubing slide; paintball target shooting; a well-stocked gift shop including a selection of pumpkins, gourds and mums; a wine-tasting bar; and the 28-acre corn maze and its nine miles of trails.

“It’s great to be within an hour’s drive of millions of people, but there are also a thousand other things folks could be doing besides coming to our farm, so we work really hard to provide a great experience,” said George Richardson, among the fifth generation of owners, along with his brother, Robert, and their wives, Wendy and Carol. A sixth generation, George’s son, Ryan, and his wife, Kristen, bought into the business in 2007.

Richardson Adventure Farm hours are 3 to 9 p.m. Thursdays, 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and noon to 9 p.m. Sundays until Nov. 7. The final Maze until Midnight of the season will be Oct. 22-23.

Many of the activities at the adventure farm are included in the price of admission, which ranges from $15 to $22 through Nov. 7, depending on the person’s age and the day of the week. Admission is free for those 2 and younger. Parking also is free at Richardson Adventure Farm. Activities such as the zip line and Zorbing have an additional fee. Information is at richardsonfarm.com.