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Griffin and her husband John had never grown corn before, but she decided to learn because she did not want the land that John's family has owned for five generations to lie fallow. "We don't want to grow houses. We want to grow crops," says Griffin, who says she spent around $30,000 on the maze, which had drawn about 2,000 visitors by mid-October. Griffin did have some setbacks, including an earworm infestation that required spraying. And even though she hasn't yet turned a profit, she hopes to next year. "People will pay to be entertained," she says.
While most tourists visit farms for a taste of country life, often the experience is not entirely authentic. Bates Nut Farm in Valley Center, Calif., which gets more than 10,000 visitors on weekends in October, doesn't actually grow any nut trees but sells more than a dozen varieties of nuts that it buys from around the world. The farm does grow 15 acres of "Big Mac" pumpkins weighing 50 lbs. or more, but owner Tom Ness admits that 60% of the pumpkins he sells are shipped in from other growers. "It kind of bums me out that they didn't grow all their own pumpkins," says Georgia Zarifes, 39, who showed up with friends for the homemade fudge, gifts and jam. "But it's not going to stop me from coming." Now that's agritainment. --With reporting by Paul Cuadros/Fuquay-Varina, Eric Ferkenhoff/Chicago and Jill Underwood/San Diego