Lacombe - A Lacombe, Alberta family's latest corn maze has captured not one but two certifications from the Guinness World Records. The 7-acre maze is now recognized as the world`s largest corn maze and the world`s largest functioning QR (Quick Response) code.
The Kraay family has been using their creativity to come up with some of the most unique designs for their annual corn mazes for the past 13 years. They`ve carved out logos for the Edmonton Oilers and the Edmonton Eskimos and since they are in Central Alberta, about halfway between Edmonton and Calgary, they also carved out logos of the Calgary Flames and the Stampeders. They made outlines of the province of Alberta and of Canada, and last year they even created a tribute for the 25th anniversary of Canadian Paralympic athlete Rick Hansen`s Man in Motion tour.
This time the Kraay Family Farm decided to go high tech and created a massive 312-thousand square foot (29-thousand meters) QR code. Thecodes are like bar codes but with a lot more information. They are usually put in ads for people to find out more about a particular product, and when scanned with a smartphone, sends the user to a website.
The family flew over the farm in a helicopter and tried it out, and sure enough it connected them to their family farm website.
Rachel Kraay tells CTV News, she got the idea for this year's maze when she stumbled across the codes. “I was just relaxing, reading a magazine and saw a whole bunch of QR codes and I thought, you know, it looked a whole lot like a maze. I wonder if we can make one.”
Their designer came up with the plans and once they had it all carved (they aren't saying how they do it, calling that a trade secret) and figured out that it works, they submitted the information to Guinness to find out if it would qualify for a record. But Kraay says, “It was something that we didn’t think would happen. There were a lot of little things we had to do and Guinness is pretty picky with how you collect your evidence. We were a little bit on edge on whether it would come through so we were very relieved and very excited.”
Kraay Family Farm has planned a big party Sept. 15th to celebrate.
2011 corn maze at Kraay Family Farm in Alberta commemorating 25th anniversary of Rick Hanson's Man in Motion tour
Kraay Family Farm
Guiness World Record certificate to Kraay Family Farm for QR Code corn maze.
Kraay Family Farm/Facebook
References: