Amazing Corn Maze seeks to reconnect public with agriculture

RANDOLPH CENTER – Along the long and quiet Boudro Road in Randolph Center sits the Amazing Corn Maze. Last year this 5-acre labyrinth hosted more than 400 visitors, and this year, it hopes to do the same. 

Behind this classic maze is an unexpected partnership. For the sugarhouse Silloway Maple and dairy farm Savello Farm, this corn maze represents more than a timeless fall ritual. For them, it’s a chance to put a face to agriculture. 

Agriculture, a changing landscape 

In the modern era, most people are disconnected from the farming community.

“During my grandparents’ time, you either were a farmer, you were from a farm family, or you knew a farmer,” said Bruce Savage of Savello Farm. “Today that’s not the case.”

“Nowadays, people don’t really understand where their food comes from or the people behind it,” he added.

Marilyn Lambert, sugarmaker at Silloway Maple, agrees. The landscape has quite literally changed. “You used to be able to stand outside the sugarhouse and see five different dairy farms all in production. Today there’s just one,” she said.

This evolving environment has contributed to one of Lambert and Savage’s biggest challenges: misperception. 

Today, many people are unfamiliar with the realities of the agricultural community. Savage explained that as fewer people relate to farming, fewer people understand it.

Savello Farm and Silloway Maple hope their corn maze can be a fun way to introduce people to their livelihoods and spark an interest in farming.

For both businesses, the revenue from the maze is a drop in the bucket. Rather, this joint venture is an effort to educate the public about the various challenges and rewards that accompany agriculture.

“If people could live our life for a day, they would see what farming is all about. I think it would change the view of a lot of people very quickly,” Savage said. 

Act 181

Many in the agricultural community feel misunderstood by Vermont state regulations, according to Lambert. As times have changed, they feel that government legislation is leaving them behind. 

Lambert, a long-time environmental steward, said that the people who make the laws don’t always understand the realities of agriculture. “Often, they make laws with the intention of environmentalism, but it is not a working reality.” 

Lambert was referring to Act 181, which overhauled Act 250, Vermont’s long-standing land use and development policy since 1970.

Enacted in 2024, Act 181 intended to resolve the state’s housing shortage by promoting building development while bolstering conservation of local ecosystems. 

The legislation has faced significant backlash from the agricultural community, with hundreds protesting the act outside the Vermont State House earlier this year. 

A prominent concern for Lambert and other rural landowners was the creation of the “Tier 3” land classification. These locations were designated critical natural resources and therefore were subject to increased environmental review. 

Many farmers and rural property owners worried about their placement in this category, citing concerns about high permitting costs, restricted property rights and threats to traditional farming life. 

After sustained pushback from grassroots movements and organizations, Act 181 was partially repealed in June 2026, overturning the controversial “Tier 3.” 

Keeping Vermont green 

For Lambert and Savage, Act 181 shows how legislation often overlooks the role farmers play in protecting the environment.

“In Vermont, we are about as green as you can get,” Savage explained. “I don’t think that farmers get the recognition and appreciation that we should for what we do for our environment.” 

Today, many in the agricultural community feel responsible for protecting the land despite facing blame for environmental degradation. 

“I have people every day who come here and tell me that what we are doing, tapping trees, is harmful for the environment,” Lambert said. “And you know, nothing could be farther from the truth.”

“Meanwhile,” she added, “they get back in their cars or their airplanes and return to their cities where they are unable to trace where all of their food, all of their clothing, and all of their things come from.”

According to Lambert, people don’t understand that farmers are focused on “creating, not consuming.”

She noted that farmers are dedicated to protecting the land, highlighting how the sugar woods at Silloway Maple play a crucial role in preserving local habitats. 

“We are here to take care of the land so that it takes care of us. It’s a two-way street, and a lot of people don’t understand that,” said Savage. 

Lambert and Savage hope people recognize the agricultural community’s contributions to Vermont.

Savage remarked that “people come to Vermont for the rolling hills.” According to the official State of Vermont website, Vermont welcomed approximately 16 million tourists in 2024. 

“People love to see the foliage, they love to see the sugar house running, they love to see the fields green, but they don’t appreciate all the work that goes in behind it,” said Savage.

Bridging the divide 

In order to bridge this divide, Savage believes greater communication is needed between farmers and politicians. He said politicians “are too far away from the ground. They see things from an outsider perspective and don’t know what farmers are actually doing.”  

Lambert shared a similar sentiment. She has invited local lawmakers to visit the sugar woods so they can learn more about their environmental stewardship and “get a much more realistic picture of what we do.” So far, she said, no lawmakers have come.

Looking to the future, Lambert and Savage hope for greater inclusion and representation in both policy and decision-making. 

A way of life

Underscoring Lambert and Savage’s hopes for the future is a deep love and passion for agriculture. 

“It’s the most satisfying thing to be able to bring life into the world and see little calves get up and jump around and play,” Savage said.

To be a farmer, according to Lambert, means to be a “businessman, a scientist, a mechanic, a veterinarian, a nutritionist, and an environmentalist” all in one. 

She recalled her grandfather Paul Silloway. “He didn’t graduate past the eighth grade, and yet he had a reputation around here for being one of the smartest and most respected men in Randolph history.” 

For her, farming is an honorable profession. “When you are born into it, it’s a part of you. And you just want to continue regardless of the challenges, because you see it as so important,” Lambert stated. 

Paving the way for the future

Lambert and Savage hope the corn maze will help introduce people to the beauty of agriculture. 

Open through Oct. 31, the maze offers many exciting twists and turns. Additionally, every Saturday, they offer wagon rides and a Haunted Maze. 

“You can come here and sample all of our syrup, take a walk in the sugar woods, have a complete, full maple education, and we don’t charge a cent for that,” said Lambert.

Both Lambert and Savage invite people to ask questions, explore the farming industry and get involved.

“Our way of securing the future of Vermont is by continuing the Vermont tradition and heritage that we were born into and love,” said Lambert.

Savage added, “We keep spinning our wheels because we love it, and it’s the only way we keep our culture alive.”