Lost in rural Carlton: Corn maze signals fall

Surrounded by 8 lush acres of corn at the Ru-Ridge Corn Maze in rural Carlton, Angela Line noted there were 21 leaves on a mature corn stalk.

"We know when the end of summer is coming," Line said. "We count the leaves."

The corn maze opened last weekend and is taking visitors through Oct. 30, generally on Thursdays and Fridays after 4 p.m. and weekends beginning at 10 a.m. Admission is $8 (cash or check only). It's wheelchair-accessible.

Now in its sixth year, the corn maze takes more than an hour to complete the circuit. This year, Line used a machete and lawn mower to create a course honoring veterans, featuring words such as "hope" and "honor."

"'Freedom' is right here," Line said, her three dogs trailing her inside the maze. "That's why it's such a long straight stretch. The M starts right here. I've gotten better every year."

Line, 48, owns the farm along County Road 1 on the way to Wrenshall with Jeremy Rubesh, 49. The couple has a blended family with five children between ages 14 and 25. They all pitch in to pull off both the maze and a host of accompanying activities built into what was once the Holstein farm's hayfield.

"We're getting really comfortable with it and really look forward to it," Line said. "It's become all of our life now. The first year it was almost a whim; we threw it together and people came. Every year it's more and more people coming back and thanking us for doing it. That's what really fuels us."

The corn maze started as Rubesh's idea to diversify and move away from milking. After the family sold their herd of cows, the maze became reality. Line uses graph paper to chart a course for the maze each year.

Rubesh and his son, Joseph, 17, plant the corn and manage the hay rides that curve up the ridge overlooking Duluth, Superior and (almost) Moose Lake.

"The view is incredible up there," Line said.

Line takes tickets. The biggest days to date were at the end of last year's maze, when it attracted 1,200 visitors on back-to-back weekend days.

"It was just borderline being overwhelming for us," Line said.

Daughter Katie, 17, takes care of the horse rides. Laura, 14, helps out everywhere, and the adult children, Libby, 23, and Justice, 25, are well-versed in helping out and even recruiting friends.

Nighttime haunting

At the next driveway over, on the same property, is the Haunted Shack, which features a nine-day run Oct. 14-16, Oct. 20-22 and Oct. 27-29. The Haunted Shack is one of the country's longest-running haunted houses, claimed its co-director Pat Stojevich. The attraction started in Gary-New Duluth and was located at the Buffalo House until moving to Ru-Ridge six years ago.

The organizers of both attractions put up permanent facilities for the Haunted Shack, allowing Stojevich and his son, Logan, to go wild building permanent animatronic scares inside the shack.

Stojevich likes the relationship between the maze and haunted house.

"They're pretty much the daytime stuff and we're the evening," he said. "For a weekend, for a family, you can do all day long."

All proceeds from the Haunted Shack, after operational expenses, go to the Special Olympics, Stojevich said.

A day of fun

Not quite lost in the maze with the sun radiating down, Line explained she wanted to build an attraction that allowed people to feel like they were coming to spend an afternoon at the farm. To that end, there's a corn pit that fills the purpose of a sand box, a host of tractor tires half-buried and fit for climbing, a "ninja" course, hay bales for hopping and one made to look like a giant spider. The couple builds all the attractions themselves, and likes to incorporate farm implements as a running theme.

Line does all of the woodwork, from building a fence and painting a bright mural to creating a wooden height chart so families can measure and immortalize their growing sons and daughters from one year to the next.

"Little kids that are coming now, I want to see their kids someday," Line said.

She reflected on one group of women that brought a blanket, their babies and played for hours in the lawn.

"That's what we like," Line said.

Her young Doberman giddy and loping through the maze, Line noted how she and Jeremy planted their corn in June.

"We plant later than most farmers for this, so the corn stays greener longer," she said. "Some people like it when it's yellow and dried-down, but I like it green. I think it's just beautiful. It sums up all of summer to me."