On the evening of September 27, nearly 1,000 people gathered at Maxwell Farms for a concert featuring Mac Powell (formerly of Third Day) with his full band and opener Holly Brand from NBC’s The Voice.
Many in the crowd also enjoyed the farm’s popular corn maze—an event canceled last year when Hurricane Helene struck just one day before opening.
“It was a lot of anxious anticipation,” said Brad Martin, Director of Maxwell Farms. “[Last year,] the day before we opened the corn maze and the concert, Hurricane Helene hit. It was very devastating.”
Hurricane Helene Recovery
For the past year, Connie Maxwell has been recovering from major tree damage sustained during Hurricane Helene.
“I’ve been here 25 years. I’ve been through ice storms and snowstorms and thunderstorms, nothing like that would even compare to the way it devastated us,” Martin recalled.
After first restoring the main campus back to normal—including repairs to two damaged cottages—the Connie Maxwell staff is now turning its attention to cleaning up the farm.
“About 60% of our farm is still down from the damage of Helene. But with volunteers and a lot of strong backs and minds and workers and all, we’ve got a good crew,” Martin said. “We’re getting it piece by piece.”
Behind-the-Scenes of the Corn Maze and Concert
Even without hurricane recovery efforts, much work goes into Maxwell Farm events.
According to Martin, there’s grass cutting, ordering the trash cans, setting up food trucks and crowd barriers, putting up tents and tiki torches around the pond, erecting parking lights, and even fire ant control.
For the corn maze, the planting starts the week before July 4—nearly three months ahead of the event.
“We plant a variety of corn that is 90 days mature. It’s made for corn mazes to be strong and withstand the wind and stay green for a long time,” Martin said. “We also plant about five acres of millet as a hedge.”
While the corn is still short enough to see over, workers mow and cut the initial maze path, usually a large circle. Each day after that, workers mow a different maze route with dead ends and loops.
Before opening day, Connie Maxwell alumnus Lee Foster leads a group of fellow alumni in creating a fun theme. This year, visitors encountered their decorations of mannequins in canoes placed throughout the maze—a unique touch that brought smiles to people’s faces.
For Martin, every bit of the hard work was worth it when he saw families winding through the maze’s intertwining paths and the concert crowd growing larger by the minute.
“It’s very exciting to see people coming across the dam, pick their spots to sit down and then the family fun enjoyment starts. You see the footballs start getting pulled out, the frisbees and things of that nature,” Martin described. “The closer it gets [to concert] time, you start seeing the vans and buses pull in with the talent, and they get on stage. You hear the cheering. … It seems like all of your hard work comes to fruition.”
More Than Fall Events: Chasing a Decade of Dreams
None of this fall’s successful corn maze and concert would have been possible without the generosity of 14 sponsors, including stage sponsors ACO Landscaping, LLC, Southern Benefit Systems and NewSpring Church, who together raised $62,000 to give children a brighter future through Connie Maxwell.
In total, this fall’s corn maze and concert raised nearly $100,000 for the Decade of Dreams campaign—a fundraising effort that includes reimagining Maxwell Farms with the construction of a new amphitheater.
Five years ago, Connie Maxwell began hosting concerts to boost operational revenue and build community awareness. With no tuition charged to the children in its care, the ministry depends on donor funds and earned income to sustain its group homes and family-care services.
“The only way we can grow is to increase our operational revenue,” said Connie Maxwell President Danny Nicholson. “It hit us that Maxwell Farms could not only be a great place for animals and therapies and just the beauty of a farm with history—but we could also create something that would be an alternative revenue source.”
Connie Maxwell has already had a master plan drawn up to transform Maxwell Farms into a destination for church retreats and groups. The vision includes a chapel, retreat center, amphitheater, cow and horse arena, leadership adventure course, and horse and bike trails. Even with this large vision, Connie Maxwell is committed to keeping a working farm while enhancing its use to care for more children.
For President Danny Nicholson, these initiatives—and especially the construction of the amphitheater—are about far more than fundraising.
“We want to educate people on our children and offer them a worship experience to remember,” Nicholson said. “The concert is like an open door to the future.”
If you would like to learn more about our 10-year strategic plan, A Decade of Dreams, and the three initiatives—building a Healing Center, reimagining Maxwell Farms, and expanding our mission by creating a campus in the Charleston area—visit ForTheDreamsOfChildren.com.
