Corn maze commemorates Pluto discovery

LAS CRUCES (KRQE) - When Anna Lyles designed her corn maze, she knew she wanted to mark the 80th anniversary of the discovery of Pluto. But she wasn't sure what to call the eccentric path through the nine-acre cornfield.

"We didn't have a name for the maze, so we asked students at Tombaugh Elementary School in Mesilla Park to help us out," Lyles said.

The name "Pathway to Pluto" submitted by second grader Miranda Romero was selected as the winning entry.

Before heading to school Wednesday Romero and her mom stopped by the Las Cruces airport for an aerial view of the Mesilla Valley Maze .

"That was awesome," Romero said when she stepped off the plane. "I can't wait to walk through the maze."

Romero's school is named for the late Clyde Tombaugh who discovered the elusive ninth planet in 1930 while working at the Lowell Observatory in Arizona. He later enjoyed a long career as an astronomy professor at New Mexico State University.

Due to its size, however, Pluto, whose name derives from the Roman god of the underworld, lost its status as a planet in a still-controversial decision in 2006 to reclassify it as a dwarf planet.

Animator Walt Disney's cartoon dog Pluto got his name shortly after the planet's discovery, and the Lyles' maze includes the outline of the familiar dog. Disney, however, never acknowledged a connection between Tombaugh's discovery and the naming of the cartoon pooch although others see more than coincidence.

"A corn maze, no matter where it is in the state, or any type of fall festival is a great way to promote agricultural tourism," Noreen Jaramillo with the New Mexico Department of Agriculture said. "It's a perfect time to spend a Saturday afternoon with your family out on the farm."

On average about 55,000 people visit the Mesilla Valley Maze on Picacho Avenue west of Las Cruces each year. It will be open to the public Sept. 25 and wrap up with the Pecan Festival on October 31. Southern New Mexico is also home to a corn maze in La Union scheduled to be open from Sept. 24 through Nov. 7.

"I invited Miranda and her parents, along with NMDA, to fly over the maze so they could see its design. When you are up there, you can actually see how spectacular it is," Lyles added. "In years past we even had planes flying out of El Paso alter their flight patterns a little just to show their passengers the design."

The maze was surveyed and cut in August.