Contact: Kamille Combs, 801-427-8323, kamille@cornbellys.com

NATION’S TOP AGRITOURISM FARMS EMBARK ON SPACE FARM 7 MISSION
In Collaboration with NASA, Cornbelly’s & Six Other Farms Invite Public to Get Lost in Space this Fall

LEHI, UT — - September 2011 -— In a special outreach titled Space Farm 7, seven of the nation’s top agritourism farms have been selected to join forces with NASA to celebrate and honor the U.S. space program. Cornbelly’s Corn Maze & Pumpkin Fest in Lehi, Utah is one of the seven and like the other six farms,  has planted a corn maze that features designs celebrating NASA’s achievements and progress in space.

To celebrate the space-themed maze, Cornbelly's will partner with NASA for a kick-off celebration on September 30 and October 1. The weekend will be filled with interactive displays and activities brought in by JPL (the NASA center located in southern California), photos & autographs with a currently-serving astronaut, an exhibit featuring a real replica of a MARS rover, a contest where guests can win the chance to participate in an I-Worlds space mission with the guest astronaut, a night-time star gazing party, and a space-themed trivia game inside the maze using QR codes designed by NASA.

“We are honored to be chosen to be part of this program,” said Brett Herbst, founder of The MAiZE Inc., which designs and carves the mazes.  “Not only do we get to collaborate with other farm operators across the nation in a unified effort to entertain and educate families, we are also going to be part of history in paying tribute to NASA.”

The objective of this outreach project is to expose guests to NASA space exploration and educate children across the United States. This year NASA celebrated the 50th anniversary of the first American in space, the 30th anniversary of the first Space Shuttle mission and the 20th anniversary of the Hubble Space Telescope’s deployment in space. NASA also recently completed construction of the International Space Station and has just concluded the Space Shuttle Program after the final shuttle launch in early July.

NASA has ten regional research centers located in the United States, each of which has a different responsibility.  The individual Space Farms have been paired up with their local space center in order to highlight that region’s contribution to NASA.  For example, Cornbelly’s Corn Maze & Pumpkin Fest in Lehi, UT is working directly with Jet Propulsion Laboratories (JPL) in California. The design of the Utah Space Farm features the solar system, showcasing the fact that JPL has built spacecrafts which have visited each one of the major planets.

Cornbelly’s Corn Maze & Pumpkin Fest in Lehi, UT, was founded in 1996 and is home to the first large-scale maze in the western United States. Other participating farms include Belvedere Plantation in Fredericksburg, VA; Liberty Ridge Farm in Schaghticoke, NY; The Rock Ranch in Rock, GA; Vala’s Pumpkin Patch in Gretna, NE; Dewberry Farm in Brookshire, TX; and Dell’Osso Family Farm in Lathrop, CA. All are associated with The MAiZE Inc., the world’s largest maze design company. For more information, visit www.themaize.com.