Last Year for Twin Cities Harvest Festival at Current Brooklyn Park Location
Bear Bouwman, a farmer in his 20s, grew up working harvest festivals.
He’s the general manager for Twin Cities Harvest Festival and Maze, which his father founded 16 years ago.
Located at the southeast corner of Highway 169 and 109th Avenue near Brooklyn Park’s northern border with Champlin, the festival was perhaps best known for its corn maze.
For many years, the maze was cut into a variety of shapes such as the Minnesota Vikings logo.
However, this year, the corn maze is nowhere to be seen.
“It’s really weird,” Bouwman said.
As large warehouse and manufacturing-style developments continue to crop up around the festival site, there wasn’t space for the maze this year.
A large manufacturing or warehouse development sits on the edge of the Twin Cities Harvest Festival site in Brooklyn Park.
And with development expected to continue, this year will the last the festival can operate at the site.
The Bouwman family doesn’t own the site, and the landlords say they can’t continue to set up shop in the empty field next year.
Bouwman told CCX News he wasn’t sure how to feel about leaving the festival’s longtime home.
“People ask ‘what is that feeling?’ And really the best way to put it is just it feels weird,” he said.
That said, most of the attractions typically seen at the festival will still be there.
For the cost of an $18 admission ticket, there’s inflatable rides, a gunny sack slide, corn pits, a straw bale maze, pedal tractors, live music and a magic show.
There’s also food trucks, face paining, caricatures and pony rides, although those amenities come with an extra cost.
Bouwman said he’s excited to see families at 169 and 109th one last time.
“Just seeing the families have fun, seeing the kids, you know, pet a baby animal and enjoy that,” he said. “Or run in the straw bale maze — like when I was a kids the straw bale maze was my favorite. You know, run around in the corn pit. That’s what we like seeing.”
The family hopes to move the festival to another site next year.
The festival is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekends in October, as well as during MEA.
Tickets to this year’s festival are available online.
