An eight-acre cornfield carved into the shape of childhood toys will open to the public on September 12 in Gambrills, kicking off the 2026 season of the MD Corn Maze at 389 Gambrills Road. The maze, which has been a fall tradition for Maryland families since 2006, will run through November 8 on select weekdays and weekends, with appearances planned by princesses, superheroes and toy characters throughout the run.
According to Eye On Annapolis, the 2026 maze was planted in late June and cut into its toy-themed layout by The MAiZE, Inc., the same firm that carves the field into shape roughly two weeks after planting. The Utah-based company, founded by Brett Herbst in 1996, has created more than 4,000 corn mazes worldwide, using computer-aided design and GPS mapping to lay out pathways while the stalks are still just inches tall, according to Y Magazine. A staff member will keep watch from a 16-foot central tower to help any visitors who lose their way, and the farm also offers a GPS-coordinated phone game for those navigating the rows.
Kiersten Paul, who helps design the maze on paper each April alongside her mother and farm owner Carol Paul, said the layout was built to feel like a piece of childhood coming to life. The direct route through the maze can be walked in about 30 minutes, though most visitors take closer to an hour to work through it fully, per the same report.
A Farm Built for a Full Day Out
Beyond the maze itself, the fall farm experience includes rides, animals, games, food and family activities spread across the property. The farmyard includes a hayride, petting farm, paintball, pumpkins, ziplines, slingshots, a tire mountain, hay climbs, a giant straw pyramid and pony rides, among other attractions. Food options include kettle corn, fresh-dipped corn dogs, apple cider donuts, slushies and items from the on-site farm market.
The 2026 season also includes special weekends for teachers, first responders, scouts, athletes and dogs, along with four Saturday flashlight nights. Admission costs $19.95 at the gate or $17.95 online, and the farm offers discounts for groups and military members. Full details, the calendar, and reservations are available at www.mdcornmaze.com.
Carol Paul said the goal is for families to spend the day together at the farm without the outside world getting in the way, a sentiment that echoes the attraction's roots as a low-tech, high-acreage escape for suburban visitors.
Ground With a Military Past
The maze operates on the Maryland Dairy Farm, formerly known as the Naval Academy Dairy Farm, which supplied milk to Naval Academy midshipmen for more than 100 years. The Navy purchased the 857-acre property after a 1910 typhoid fever outbreak was traced to contaminated off-site milk supplied to midshipmen, according to RMC Global. Dairy operations continued on the site for nearly 90 years before ending in 1997.
Anne Arundel County has leased the property from the U.S. Navy since 2008 under a 30-year agreement that requires preserving the land's agricultural character and housing the Naval Academy's mascot, Bill the Goat, per Wikipedia. The property is now considered the largest parcel of agricultural land in west Anne Arundel County and is also home to the University of Maryland Extension Service, the county's 4-H program, and the Master Gardeners office.
That agricultural designation hasn't insulated the farm from land-use debates. In October 2024, the Navy advanced plans to develop a solar energy project across the 857-acre property to support Department of Defense net-zero goals, a move that sparked concerns from local farm bureaus and county officials about preserving active agricultural production on the site, according to Lancaster Farming.
Part of a Bigger Agritourism Boom
The Gambrills attraction fits into a broader statewide and national trend of farms leaning on agritourism to diversify income. Maryland Land Use Code § 4-212 explicitly defines agritourism to include corn mazes, hayrides, pumpkin patches, farm tours and seasonal petting farms offered for public education or recreation, giving operations like MD Corn Maze specific legal standing under state planning rules, according to the Maryland General Assembly.
The numbers back up the trend. Data from the 2022 Census of Agriculture showed 354 Maryland farms generated $14.5 million in agritourism income, up from $9.89 million across 295 farms in 2017, per the University of Maryland Eastern Shore Extension. Nationally, the USDA Economic Research Service found U.S. farms generated $1.26 billion in agritourism revenue in 2022, a 12.4% inflation-adjusted increase from 2017.
MD Corn Maze has leaned into creative annual themes for years to draw returning visitors, brainstormed months in advance by Carol Paul and her family. Last year's Taylor Swift-themed maze featured a 300-foot guitar carved into the field and an on-site cover concert, following past themes that included superheroes in 2023, Jurassic Park dinosaurs in 2022 and a nationwide map called Mazein' Across America in 2021.
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