A spooky season spectacle right here in Bozeman

  It’s officially October and you know what that means — pumpkin spice everything, sweater weather, and an intense urge to soak in the last of the temperate weather before Bozeman is blanketed in snow. If you’re itching to get outside for a fall activity this season, head over to the Bozeman Maze. 

   Beginning in Sept., the Bozeman Maze staff begins constructing the annual fall tradition. Each year the maze takes on a new and different shape but is always built of hay. The shape is often influenced by guests' suggestions, but almost always pertains to agriculture or fall. This year, the Bozeman Maze takes the shape of a beehive constructed with over 5,000 bales of hay. 

It may seem daunting to take over 5,000 bales of hay and organize them to create an image, but the Bozeman Maze has it down to a science. 

   “We paint a big grid [on the field] and then we actually fly a drone up and paint the picture on the field itself. And then we lay bales on all those lines and straighten everything out to make it look like a picture.” co-owner of Bozeman Maze, Ezra Cuelho said. It takes the team a couple of weeks and about 200 hours to get the maze up. 

   The main spectacle — the maze —  takes most guests between 30 minutes to an hour to complete, but can take a bit longer if they decide to play the crayon game. As guests enter the maze, they are given a postcard with four blank spaces to color in as they travel through the maze. There are four color stations located throughout the maze, indicated by solar lights on the tops of bales. 

   If you’re lucky enough to complete your postcard, you can bring it over to the candy window for a sweet prize. “Most of the people that say it's easy don't play the game. They just find the exit. So, that's our recommendation. It's way more fun to do it that way,” Tell Rothing, co-owner of Bozeman Maze said. 

   If you get lost in the maze, never fear. The team at Bozeman Maze has a watch tower where an employee is always stationed. From the tower, they can help guide you out. People getting lost in the maze is a fairly common occurrence. 

   “There's always somebody needing help. Anytime we have somebody in the maze, we have somebody up on the tower for safety,” he said. “So they're always guiding people through verbally, but then pretty regularly, we have to send somebody into the maze to bring a group out,” Rothing said. 

   On Saturday, Oct. 14, from 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m., a new event will be featured at the maze. A country music night with the Dirt Farmers playing live music and Western Roots Country Dancing. 

A new payment system will be used this year for the pumpkin patch. It will be a pay-what-you-can system. “We want everybody to have the opportunity to come out here and have a good time. And we want everybody to have the opportunity to walk away with a pumpkin,” Rothing said. 

   The Bozeman Maze is a great environment to participate in some relaxing, family-friendly fun. Everything from pumpkins to their activities, the owners emphasize that this is a community gathering space. 

   “We really want to provide a super awesome space in the community for people to come, feel safe, feel welcome and have a good wholesome time. You know, there's not a lot of places like that anymore,” Rothing said. 

   “Even when the weather is cruddy, we usually still open up on the day. There's been a couple of days it snows, and you get a few people that really bundle up and have snowball fights out here as they go through. We just try to be open as much as we can and just have it for the community, really,” Cuelho said. 

   The Bozeman Maze is located in a field at 1340 E. Valley Center Rd. The maze leases a 100-acre lot from local farmers and runs its operations on about seven to ten of those acres. Activities within that plot of land include much more than just the maze. The Bozeman Maze features a hayride, bungee jumping, lawn games, concessions, the occasional petting zoo, a train ride and another hayride that takes you to the pumpkin patch. 

   Admission is $13 for adults, $11 for children aged 5-11 and free for children under four years old. The seasonal maze runs from Sept. 22 through Oct. 29 and their weekly hours are:

• Wednesdays and Fridays from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. 
• Saturdays from 10:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.
• Sundays from 12:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Additional and extended hours can be found on their website https://bozemanmaze.com/event.html.