Brad's Beat: The Corn Maze that Honors Joplin

VERONA, MO.--- David Doner is a farmer by day, but also knows his way around a computer. He owns the Verona Corn Maze, and for the past 14 years he's had a theme cut into his field. He's had the Springfeild Cardinals and even Yakov Smirnoff. But this year he went with a Joplin theme honoring those that lost their lives in the May 22nd tornado.

"We did one for 9/11. I think that was one that stuck out. We had a flag in there and a motorcycle," says Doner. The corn is still growing and the maze will be ready in September. David's daughter, Zeta is helping him with the crop and she says it's important to remember the victims of the tornado. "There were a lot of good people in that tornado and some people were very good, and now are dead," states Zeta.

Every year the family never knows who will visit the maze, and they'll never forget one woman who got lost and had to get out as soon as possible. "We had a lady and her water broke. She was out here and went into labor. Can you believe that," states Doner. Designing the maze takes a lot of computer work, so how do they cut it out? "We get it down on paper. They graph it out on the field." Getting any more details is a trade secret. "It's like McDonald's you know how they have their special sauce and they try to not tell people. We have our own trade secrets too. That's one of them," says Doner.

The Family will donate a portion of the maze proceeds to a Joplin Tornado Recovery Fund once the season ends. Zeta says it's nice to live on the farm, but dinner gets kind of boring. "Yeah we do have a corn every night." Getting through the corn maze will take about 45 minutes. If you get lost there are corn cops throughout the maze to show you the way out.