All Aboard? Kentucky corn maze invites attendees to get lost in its Trump Train
A Kentucky pumpkin patch owner says he’s gotten a big response to the Donald Trump train design he mowed into his corn maze this year.
The 10-acre corn maze at Truett Pumpkin Patch in McKee features the words “All Aboard 2020 Trump Train” with an image of Trump’s face as the front of a train engine. It also includes a police badge with a flag design.
Tim Truett, who started Truett Pumpkin Patch about eight years ago, said his family prides themselves “on doing a hot topic for our corn maze” each year, and 2020 brought “lots of choices.”
He said they started with a “Back the Blue” motif this year because of the recent “negative” focus on law enforcement. Truett said he and his wife have family members who are police officers, and “that’s near and dear to our hearts.”
He said Trump seemed to be a natural fit for the rest of the space.
“We support our president, and you know, we’re proud to say that here at Truett Pumpkin Patch,” he said. “Because he supports our police officers, we thought it was fitting to put him out there with our Back the Blue.”
The farm uses GPS software to create the design, then, before the corn reaches its full height, Truett’s brother uses surveying equipment to lay it out, while Truett follows him on a lawn mower to cut the design.
“It’s a lot like connecting the dots,” Truett said. “When it’s finished, it looks just like the picture that we started. It’s amazing how it works.”
While the response to the Trump Train in Jackson County has been overwhelmingly positive, Truett said the media attention paid to the corn maze has resulted in “a whole lot of negative feedback from other states.”
“It’s really kind of sad,” Truett said. “We did this for our community. ...We’ve been called racist. We’ve been called numerous things, and that’s completely false.”
“We hate that other people were offended by it,” he said. “The way we look at it, if you want to come, fine. If you don’t want to come, that’s fine also. We love you either way.”
Truett told WYMT that he also did a Trump-themed maze for the 2016 election, when the president ran against Hillary Clinton. That year’s maze featured the two presidential contenders holding an American flag, alongside the phrases “Vote 2016” and “Make America Great Again.”
Truett, an elementary school principal, said he and his wife both work full-time and run the pumpkin patch on the side as a way to provide entertainment to the community.
“Here in Jackson County, there’s not a whole lot for kids to do,” he said. “We got tired of driving to Georgetown or Lexington or Somerset to pumpkin patches.”
Truett Pumpkin Patch opens to the public Sept. 19. Hours are 4 to 8 p.m. Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays and from noon to 8 p.m. Saturdays. Admission is $6 per person.
