The Maze of Maize

You've seen those aerial photos of corn mazes, and some have words cut into them, right?

We see them, here far from corn country, and we think, aww that's cool, and then move on to the next reel.

But there is a planning and scheduling involved in those messages. Take it from Tim Sullivan, who got the idea to send a corngram to his girlfriend asking her to be his wife way back in April.

In Ohio, where the corn grows tall, Tim wanted his girl Caroline Liggett to tie the knot, so he got a computer program on the case and some help from a friend who's a crop consultant.

Armed with all this know-how, Tim got on his tractor on the family cornfield (13 acres) and planted 75-foot-long letters spelling out  “Will you marry me, Caroline?”

Corn seeds went in on June 3 and you could start to read the words by the 20th.

 “It’s kind of corny, but, you know … it’s what we live, it’s what we breathe,” Sullivan said.

BUT! He had to keep her away from the farm while the plants took shape, and even when they went raspberry pickin' in the field across the way, he worried that she'd start to read her surprise.

And then, when Tim asked Caroline if she would like to go up in a small plane or hot air balloon, he was scared when she said. "Absolutely not!"

Nonetheless, he persisted. (Sorry.) And he told her he was thinking about getting his pilot's license and that a friend was offering to take them both up in the sky, she finally gave in.

Up they went, and the first time the plane passed over the letters, she was looking the other way.  When the pilot doubled back, Tim revealed that he wasn't interested in learning to fly at all, but wanted to ask Caroline to marry him. 

“She was speechless,” Sullivan says. “I’ve never seen her smile so big.”

They landed, he popped the question on one knee, and she said yes! They took a romantic walk through the maze, which will soon be full of visitors for the farm's "Fall Fun Days," after which, the corn will be harvested for ethanol. 

Plans are underway for a wedding after next year's planting is done, with a sage green and yellow for their colors.

Caroline will tell you, though, it's not going to be yellow for the color of corn: “So many people outside of the industry would probably look at a corn maze and think that is really a cheesy way to ask somebody to marry you. But for us … what we live and breathe every day is feeding this world, and we’re passionate about that.”