Each year more than 14,000 visitors come to the Fantozzi Farms Corn Maze and Pumpkin Patch in Patterson, Calif. This year, the 10-acre maze not only offers fun for the whole family, it also tells a unique farm-to-table story starring The Save Mart Cos., the Central Valley grocer with deep roots in the Golden State.
“Our partnership with Save Mart this year has been such a positive experience,” says Denise Fantozzi, who co-owns Fantozzi Farms with her husband, Paul. “Save Mart has been a really important part of our community for years, and so everybody knows about Save Mart and partnering together — showing that pathway from the farm to the grocery store to the table — is something that we can all relate to.”
In the early 2000s, Fantozzi, a former schoolteacher, was looking to incorporate education into fun field trip experiences on the farm and together with her farmer husband opened the first Fantozzi Corn Maze and Pumpkin Patch in 2003.
While Fantozzi says they started off small, the agri-entertainment farm has added to the experience over the years with scarecrow contests, hayrides, corn hole tournaments, pumpkin painting and more. It also welcomes scores of school-age children through field trips that bring the farm-to-table message to life.
Fantozzi says the corn maze receives repeat visitors from near and far.
“I just love seeing families come back year after year,” she says. “Building that connection with the community, that’s the most rewarding part.”
Over the years, Fantozzi says she’s become personal friends with many of the families who visit the farm, has watched their kids grow up and, in some cases, become employees at the corn maze in their teen years. And then there are those who visited as children who come back with kids of their own.
Designing Memories on the Farm
An aerial view of the Fantozzi Farms and Save Mart corn maze reveals its breathtaking intricacies. How does a 10-acre corn maze spanning more than 5 miles of twisting paths and 12 hidden checkpoints come to be?
“We start off with our design. We think of what we want the design to be, and that’s really sketched out on paper or on the computer,” Fantozzi explains. “From the very beginning, we’ve had a company called Maze Play that comes out, and they have the equipment to cut the maze design, put in all the paths, and they use a small tractor with a rototiller behind it, and a GPS system. They cut those paths very exact, and the final maze looks just like the design we planned.”
This year’s corn maze, which features Save Mart branding integrated in the design, was the brainchild of Jenna Rose Lee, Save Mart Cos. marketing and social media manager.
“This is ag storytelling at its finest, and it’s a connector,” Lee says. “We wanted to showcase the relationship between the farmer and the retailer, and the maze design does just that. It showcases the farm to the family table and the supply chain.
“In the design, you’ll see our logo, but then in addition to that, you see the tractor,” she continues. “There’s a big grocery cart in the middle, and then you also see a home. So, it’s really making that connection between how the food gets from the field to our shelves, to the grocery cart, and to your family’s dinner table.”
The corn maze also features one of Save Mart’s tag lines: “Valley Proud.”
“What we wanted to showcase in this huge display is that we are proud to be here. We’re not going anywhere. We’re ‘Valley Proud,’” Lee says. “We’re proud of our local farmers, and we love our community.
“We were founded in Modesto, Calif, and it’s part of who we are and where we are at the heart of the Central Valley, and it’s important for us to connect with our local farmers who stock our shelves,” she adds. “Partnering with Fantozzi was a true testament to being local and supporting our local farmers.”
