The Corn Maze Was the Fundraiser. November Is What the Old Maine Town Hall Was Saved For.

Why does a corn maze on Hillcrest Drive have a town hall just across the street?

Willow Springs Garden built its calendar around a building the Town of Maine almost lost. The busiest weeks, the Route 66 maze and the haunted nights, are already behind us this year. The weeks between now and the first sleigh ride in January are smaller. A chili supper, pizza pickups, a puzzle contest and a monthly bingo lunch fill them, and all of them use the old hall the way a town hall gets used.

A building moved down the road, and a maze to pay for it

The Maine Town Hall used to stand just off Highway K, next to the Town of Maine Fire Department, and it was set to be torn down. Dennis Griffin learned about it and asked whether the building could be moved instead and made the centerpiece of a garden. According to the Willow Springs story page, the hall was moved to the property in 2001, and it has been "a work in progress ever since."

Restoration cost money, and the corn maze was how they raised it. Owner Peggy Griffin tells the story on the business's corn maze history page:

"Our corn maze history began in 2001, when Dennis moved the Maine Town Hall building to save it from being torn down. He asked me if I would be willing to help him run a corn maze to help fund the restoration of the building. I said yes—and that began our corn maze life."

The first maze was cut in the shape of the farm's original barn, which had burned down. Over the years the farm added a petting zoo, a pumpkin patch, a kids' play area, campfires and the nighttime haunted mazes. Dennis designed more than 20 mazes. Peggy's brothers Tim and Andy now carry on the production.

Peggy grew up on her family's dairy farm, two miles from Willow Springs. The property belongs to Maine in a practical sense too. In the Village of Maine's June 23, 2026 board packet, Willow Springs Garden, LLC appears at 5480 Hillcrest Drive on the village's beer and liquor license renewal list.

The round barn added the second anchor

Five years after the hall arrived, a second old building came to the property. Carl Christan's round barn was the last one left in Marathon County, and it was falling down. Dennis and Carl spent the summer of 2006 clearing out 40 years of boards, stanchions and rubble. The barn was moved to Willow Springs that September.

WJFW reported that the Griffins restored the barn and opened it for use in 2014. In that story, Peggy described it hosting weddings, graduation parties, business banquets and celebrations of life. So there are now two rescued buildings on Hillcrest Drive. The maze still draws the biggest crowds of the year, and the buildings keep hosting events long after the corn comes down.

The season that just wrapped

This year's daytime maze took the theme "Get your kicks on Route 66!" It was open Sundays from September 20 through October 18, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Admission was $7, free for children 3 and under, and it covered the maze, wagon ride, barrel-train rides, play area, campfire and corn hole. The Haunted Corn Maze ran three nights, October 22 through 24. It was recommended for ages 10 and up, and flashlights were not allowed. The Children's Trick-or-Treat Corn Maze and Halloween Party followed on Sunday, October 25.

The maze has done its fundraising job for 25 seasons now. The rest of the calendar is what the hall and barn were saved to host.

The calendar from now to the first sleigh

Here is what the Willow Springs event calendar shows from this week through mid-November. Registration for ticketed events runs through the calendar page.

The Murder Mystery Dinner runs Thursday, October 29 and Friday, October 30. Both nights are listed on Visit Wausau, which points readers to the event flyer for full details.

Pizza-To-Go orders are due by 3 p.m. on each pickup day. Last winter's Wednesday pizza program ran out of the Hall, with pickup from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Orders went in by voicemail at 715-675-1171, by text at 715-675-4030, or online. So the building moved in 2001 to avoid demolition now serves as a pizza counter on weeknights.

The chili supper on November 7 is the closest thing to the hall's original job. It is a community fundraiser for the Maine School PTO, held in a former town building, on a Saturday evening in November. The maze was started for the same reason in 2001: to raise money for something local.

Bingo & Lunch runs on the third Sunday of each month from 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. The series is listed on Visit Wausau through December 20, 2026. That puts the November session on the 15th and the last one of the year on December 20.

Then the woods take over

After the corn, the property's next big draw is the sleigh. The sleigh ride page lists four public dates for the coming winter:

• Sunday, January 10, 2027
• Saturday, January 23, 2027
• Sunday, February 7, 2027
• Saturday, February 20, 2027

Public rides are for individuals or groups of eight or fewer. They leave every half hour from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., last 90 minutes, and include a woodland campfire and a hot drink. Optional soup or pizza buffets vary by date.

Private rides are offered at 10 a.m., noon, 2 p.m., 4 p.m. or 6 p.m. The business's site lists $225 for up to 12 guests and $16 per person beyond 12, with children 5 and under free. One sleigh holds 12 adults, so larger groups need two. To reserve, call 715-675-1171 and confirm the current rate when you book. In January, WSAW covered last winter's rides, which ran through the end of February.

The calendar has a gap between the December 20 bingo and the January 10 sleigh ride. Willow Springs adds events through the season, so check the calendar again before the holidays.

What a 2001 decision still shapes on Hillcrest Drive

Picture this stretch of the year without the 2001 move. The Maine Town Hall comes down, nobody plants a maze to save it, and nobody hauls a round barn across the county five years later. Instead, a property in the village hosts dinner theater the week of Halloween, a costume party for dogs, a school fundraiser, a puzzle contest, monthly bingo and four public sleigh dates. All of it depends on two buildings that were scheduled to disappear.

The maze gets the attention every October, but it was built to pay for the hall. From November into the new year, the hall gets used as a gathering place.

If you own acreage with an old barn, outbuildings or a history of its own and want to know how that history fits into its value, Joleta Sells Homes can help. Guiding You Home starts with a free home valuation.