Pearce’s Farm Stand Corn Maze

Five farm kids turned surplus vegetables into college tuition money in 1967. They sold sweet corn and pumpkins from a roadside wagon on land first purchased for $1.25 an acre back in 1848. What began as a 4-H fundraising hustle has since grown into a Walworth County institution, complete with an open-air market, homemade treats and one seriously elaborate corn maze.

The Pearce family still fills its wagons with fresh-picked sweet corn alongside everything from podded peas to 300+ pound Atlantic Giant pumpkins. That particular variety currently holds the world record, thanks to a 2,819-pound specimen grown in England in 2025. Then there are the aptly named Lunch Lady Gourds, which come in a peculiar assortment of shapes, colors and wonderfully warty exteriors.

Come fall, part of the farm transforms into a larger-than-life work of cornfield art. Pearce’s has been creating mazes for more than a decade, with past designs ranging from portraits of the farm’s founders to Ford automobiles and Peanuts characters. Add in jumping bales, kettle corn and pumpkins by the wagonload, and the roadside stand started by five kids has become considerably harder to miss.

Only two families have farmed this Wisconsin plot since statehood, and members of four Pearce generations still work the land today. Some original 1840s buildings remain standing, tying the modern farm back to its earliest days. What started with five kids, a wagon and a surplus of corn has become a fall tradition that keeps drawing people back year after year.