Cities, Outdoor Venues Brace for October Snow

It doesn’t require perfect weather to have a good time.

“It’s a little cold, but we’re okay, we’re here to have fun,” said Liz Cisel, who was visiting the Twin Cities Harvest Festival and Maze in Brooklyn Park with her family. “We’ll warm up once we run around, right?”

When you’re surrounded by pumpkins, food and a maze made entirely of corn, it’ll take more than some chilly October air to dampen the spirits of visitors to the Twin Cities Corn Maze.

“They’re still coming out and having a good time,” said Bert Bouwman, who owns this popular fall attraction. It’s open daily through Nov. 1 to allow for proper social distancing in the time of COVID-19.

But if the National Weather Service is correct in saying that the Twin Cities could get between two to five inches of snow on Tuesday, then Bouwman may have to make the unprecedented move of closing.

“We never had to close because of snow,” he said. “We did close because of rain. Last year we had a tremendous amount of rain that we had to make a decision to close because of that.”

Visitors can check the Twin Cities Harvest Festival and Corn Maze Facebook page for any possible weather-related closing information on Tuesday.

Jack-o-lanterns at Twin Cities Harvest Festival and Maze.

Cities Get Snow Plows Ready

Meanwhile, the corn maze isn’t the only place getting ready for an early dose of winter. In the city of Crystal, the city has a fleet of plows ready to clear the main roads if the snow starts to accumulate.

“Beginning of the month we started getting the wing plows on, getting everything greased, make sure everything’s operational,” said Bill Bowman, the street superintendent for the city of Crystal. “So most likely we’ll get those three trucks filled up with salt, ready to go in case we do need to go and do main drags.”

The good news for any Minnesotan who’s weary of a long winter is that Tuesday’s snowfall isn’t expected to stick around very long.

“The road temps are still right around 40 degrees,” Bowman said. “So I don’t really see it sticking to the roads. If it does, I mean Wednesday is supposed to be, I think, in the 40s. So yeah we’ll just clear what we need to if we need to and go on.”

Snow plows ready in Crystal

Back at the corn maze in Brooklyn Park, a little October snow won’t prematurely pause this season of fall fun.

“Snow does not hurt the pumpkins,” Bouwman said.

Brooklyn Park | Crystal