Corn one, come all! The circus is coming to Sunderland this fall, as Mike’s Maze turns itself into a corn-ival for the 2024 season, with its “Join the Circus” theme.

With stars and the theme’s phrase etched into the corn field, the famous labyrinth is just about ready to open to the public Sept. 6.

Maze co-creators Jess and David Wissemann are, in their words, putting the “barn in Barnum and Bailey,” as families are invited to explore Jess Wissemann’s newest creation and clown around with a variety of games and activities at Mike’s Midway.

“I had wanted to do a circus theme for several years because the maze is always a circus … it’s just felt like a natural theme to do for many years but there’s always been something that’s more in the zeitgeist; something always took precedent in previous years,” Jess Wissemann said, pointing to the wave of artificial intelligence news in 2023 and their decision to pursue that theme last year. “We were like, ‘2024, election year, it’s perfect.’ It’s going to be a circus, it’s guaranteed to be a circus.”

The Wissemanns’ maze has touched on politics in the past – the 2020 theme featured “VOTE” as the maze’s design – and this year, they decided to lean into the “shared history” of politics and circuses, as well as the circus of modern politics. Jess Wissemann said the design of the theme was inspired by classic fairground art, as well as a trip to the Dingles Fairground Museum in the United Kingdom, which she visited last year during an international sign painters’ event. In her day job, Wissemann is the owner and founder of Hired Hand Signs.

“Traveling fairs and circuses were a way that politicians were able to deliver their message to large gatherings of people, so it’s always been, in our country, a shared history,” Jess Wissemann said, before pointing to how modern politics is all about showmanship. “You just watched the political conventions, it’s a lot about the theatrics and showmanship.”

The Wissemanns said their goal is to create an atmosphere of “curiosity and fun.”

“We could poke a little fun at the cultural moment of our election cycle, but also really lean into joy and fun because everyone’s so exhausted by everything that’s going on,” Jess Wissemann said. “We really wanted to put a huge emphasis on fun this year, so people could come here and forget all their troubles and just have a great time.”

On top of the maze itself, Dave Wissemann has curated a wide variety of games and activities placed in and outside the maze. Highlights this year include larger-than-life slides, rope climbing like a trapezist, shooting basketballs into a corn hopper and an enhanced arsenal of potato cannons.

Weekend admission is $16 for adults and $14 for kids, students, seniors and active military members. Children under 4 are free. Friday admission is $12 for adults and $10 for kids, students, seniors and military members, although wagon rides and face painting are not available on Fridays.

Tickets will also soon go on sale for Friday night beer mazes for patrons 21 years old. On one Friday evening in September and each Friday night in October, Mike’s Maze partners with local breweries from around the Pioneer Valley, including Berkshire Brewing, the People’s Pint and Four Phantoms, among others. As part of the beer maze experience, folks get to explore a smaller, two-acre maze and play themed trivia.

For more information, visit Mikesmaze.com. Mike’s Maze is located on Route 47 at 23 S. Main St. in Sunderland. The maze opens on Sept. 6 and remains open through Nov. 3. It is open on Fridays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and weekends, as well as Columbus Day, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Chris Larabee can be reached at clarabee@recorder.com.