Why? Why are the unicorns killers?

Rare unicorn sighting at the Treinen Farm

Number one question at the Treinen Farm this year is “Why are the unicorns killers?”

Let’s go back to how we think up a maze design. I (Angie) am the designer, so basically I get to do whatever I want. But I am willing to accept some input in the idea phase.

Alan (my husband, the farmer): We should do a horse.

Me: Horses are boring. And we did one in 2001. (Our very first maze was a horse and cart.)

Alan: They aren’t boring. And that was a long time ago. How about a mare and foal?

Me: No.

Alan: How about a mustang?

Me: Mustangs are stupid.

Alan: How about a team of —

Me: No.

Alan: How about–

Me: No.

Iris (the farmhand, pipes up from eating her sandwich): How about a Pegasus?

Me: No. Wait…hmmm. No.

Iris and Alan: A Pegasus would be cool. You know, it’s got wings–

Me: I know what a Pegasus is. No.

But, when I think about it a little, it’s not completely out of the question. We did Icarus a few years ago, and the wings were pretty awesome. But we’ve done quite a bit of Greek mythology, and it seemed repetitive to jump into it again (we did the Owl of Athena in 2014.) And an ethereally lovely winged horse alone was terribly boring–I couldn’t really think about what we’d talk about. A big part of coming up with the maze design has to do with how our staff will be able to engage customers–sometimes they are telling a myth or a fable, or explaining technology or math concepts. They couldn’t just stand there and say how beautiful horses with wings are.

But when I hit the internet to check out pictures of pegasi, the whole concept of the maze clicked almost instantly. We didn’t need a winged horse–that was definitely boring. We needed a badass horse: a horse that could shoot laser beams out of its eyes. A horse that could stab you with its head…

A unicorn.

And what would be even better than a Killer Unicorn? Obviously, if it was also a baby…

The rest of the process involved spending a lot of time collecting unicorn pictures, unicorn memes, unicorn songs, Youtube shows, MLP stuff. (Check out my Pinterst board for a view into my mind circa May 2016 https://www.pinterest.com/angiedvm/maze-ideas-2016/ )