Ru-Ridge Corn Maze Preps for Fall Season During Pandemic

September 8, 2020

CJ Baumgartner,

CARLTON, Minn.– It’s beginning to look a lot like fall in the Northland and that means corn mazes all around are getting ready for families to come through again.

As the season begins to change, popular fall destinations like Ru-Ridge Corn Maze in Carlton are gearing up for an unexpected and unpredictable fall but one thing they can guarantee is that there will be a corn maze.

Starting this Friday, Angela Line and her family will open up Ru-Ridge Corn Maze for the fall for their fourth season.

“It’s a big deal for our family. We spend all year preparing,” said Line, who co-owns and manages the maze.

This season’s biggest challenge will be preparing for COVID-19 guidelines. Staff are asking guests to regularly wash and sanitize their hands, spread out from other people, and will take everyone’s name and number for contact tracing.

Ru-Ridge will also be tracking capacity by handing out wristbands at the door with an overflow parking area if necessary to stay under Minnesota’s limit of 250 people at an outdoor gathering.

“On a normal day, we have 50 to 150 people here and they’re in and out all day long,” said Line. “I have a feeling we may be a little busier this fall.”

Ru-Ridge will have fun activities for families to take their minds off these stressful times for a few hours. There will be their eight acre corn maze, along with a big play area for the kids, hay rides. And of course, a whole bunch of pumpkins.

This year the farm is also collecting donations for the Wrenshall Fire Department and other area first responders. Ru-Ridge will match part of the donations.

Line says she’s excited to give families a place to go and make memories this fall.

“We always love the families coming out and seeing all the little kids on the farm and visiting and being able to relax and get outside. That’s very important to us.”

Management at Ru-Ridge says that they are more flexible to having hours during the week to accommodate for big gatherings. More information is available on their Facebook page.