TERREBONNE – The wind rustled through the leaves as Norman Eade and his family walked along a dirt path. Footsteps and disembodied voices filled the air. They came to a junction. It seemed familiar. The Eades realized it was the same one they passed just a few minutes before.

”I don’t consider myself lost,” Norman Eade, 44, said. ”But admittedly, I don’t know where I’m going.”

The Eades were lost by choice on Sunday. Norman and his wife, Katheryn, 36, of Bend brought their 3-year-old daughter Morgan to pick their way through an elaborate corn maze. They found the two bridges overlooking the field, but they were having a harder time getting out of the corn conundrum – even with a map. ”The Maize” is the brainchild of Matthew and Kendra Lisignoli, seed crop and pumpkin farmers who own Central Oregon Pumpkin Company.

Every fall – the last three in Terrebonne – the Lisignolis have carved out a corn maze on their 160-acre farm and hosted a pumpkin patch complete with hay rides and pumpkin picking.

For the first time this year, the Lisignolis hired a company out of Utah, The MAiZE, to create a specially-designed corn labyrinth. From a bird’s eye perspective, the maze features the Lisignoli’s farm with Smith Rock State Park looming in the background.

From the ground, though, all one sees are rows and rows of 12-foot cornstalks – 7 acres worth of feed corn that will be eaten by cattle when the maze craze ends.

Matthew Lisignoli, 41, said it cost more than $10,000 to have the maze created this year. He and his wife, Kendra, 38, chose the picture and the design company planned the layout and cut the cornstalks, which had been planted in May.

The designer, Brett Herbst, finished the work in a day using a picture he mapped out on a computer, Kendra Lisignoli said. He then counted each row of cornstalks and marked off the pathways to carve out by hand, she said.

Matthew Lisignoli said the corn maze is a good complement to their pumpkin patch.

”It’s different and new,” Matthew Lisignoli said. ”You get to be lost. It’s challenging.”

So challenging that parents like Jeannette and Mark Cunningham let their daughter take the lead.

”The maze is fun if you take a 12-year-old who knows what she’s doing,” said Bend resident Jeannette Cunningham, 47, referring to her daughter, LeeAnne. ”She was our fearless leader.”

The Cunninghams made it through both phases of the maze in 50 minutes. The design company said the correct pathway could be walked in as few as 15 minutes, but most people end up taking about an hour to find their way back to either of the two entrances.

Isaac Staples, 11, of Redmond and his friend, Micah Lay, 10, emerged from the maze with arms raised in triumph. They discovered the way out in an hour and a half, but lost their parents in the process.

”I’m not sure how we got out,” Staples said.

With every cornstalk and 3-foot-wide path looking virtually the same, the maze has already stumped a few hundred visitors in its opening weekend, according to Kendra Lisignoli.

”It’s good family fun and a good group activity,” she said.

Few people have gotten completely lost, she said. But just in case, the Lisignolis have ”corn cops” on standby to find missing children and monitor the cornstalks for damage.

Even though he and his family took a few wrong turns, Tyler Fullerton, 6, of Redmond thought the maze was fun.

”Every turn, I was confused and didn’t know where to go,” he said. ”It was really weird because all the going around made me feel dizzy.”

The corn maze will be open to the public Thursdays and Fridays from 3 to 9 p.m., Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. and on Sundays from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. through Nov. 2.

Tickets are $6 for anyone 12 and older, $4 for children 6-11 and free for children 5 and younger.

For more details, call 504-1414 or visit the Web site at www.pumpkinco.org.

Ernestine Bousquet can be reached at 541-504-2336 or at ebousquet@bendbulletin.com.