"We wanted to do something fun and different [with the corn maze]," Amy Ladd told NHL.com. "We wanted to honor the Nashville Predators, and even beyond the Predators we wanted to honor the fans for their unusual antics and making Nashville famous as a hockey town. We incorporated different elements with the Predators to pay homage."
The Ladds keep their farm open six months per year and have done a corn maze every fall since 2009. Besides the logos and skyline, the maze features a skater shooting a puck, a catfish and 303 to honor the Predators "Cellblock 303" fan section at home games at Bridgestone Arena.
After getting the Predators permission, she used Photoshop to complete the design. She sent the final layout to Stanley Wise in Mississippi, who made it a reality by plugging the picture into a computer program that makes a GPS map for plowing. The process used to take "at least a couple hundred man hours," according to Amy, but with coordinates to follow, Jason Ladd plowed the field into the maze in less than a day.
After a two-week hiatus to get ready for the fall, the farm reopened Sept. 20 and the maze has created a buzz. Drones and small planes have flown over to get a glimpse at the maze design, and besides the usual families with children, who come out to pick pumpkins or see Tennessee's largest petting farm, Predators fans in their shirts and jerseys have flocked to try to complete the maze.
"We had a lot of adults come out in [Predators] shirts," Amy Ladd said. "It's been fun to watch adults and teenagers venture through the maze."
Amy admitted she and her family only followed the Predators casually until their run to the Stanley Cup Final this past spring. But she and her family were inspired by the team's play and saw the Nashville community come together.
"We got really excited along with everybody else," she said. "It was really amazing. In this day and age, to see community come together and unite and support something and I think it brought a whole lot of joy."
