Friday night at Glazebrook Park, the flashlights come out before the maze does. The Great Godfrey Maze opens its 2026 season this Friday, September 18, and by the time gates open at 6 p.m., dusk is already creeping in over the seven-acre cornfield off Stamper Lane. Most people assume the corn maze is an October thing, tangled up with Halloween and haunted hayrides. It isn't, not entirely. And that gap between what people assume and what's actually on the calendar is worth paying attention to if you want the best version of your fall weekend without fighting a crowd for it.
Here's the piece that doesn't show up in the generic "fall bucket list" posts: the maze's regular season runs from mid-September through the first weekend of November, about seven weekends total. But the haunted version, the one with the reputation, doesn't start until the first Friday in October. That means the two weekends coming up, September 18-20 and September 25-27, are the only ones all season where you get the maze in its purely daytime, family-friendly form, no haunted overlay mixed into the schedule. If you've got young kids who aren't ready for a scare, or you just prefer your corn maze without a Halloween soundtrack, this is the window.
Two Weekends Before the Haunted Version Takes Over
The maze sits inside Robert E. Glazebrook Park at 1401 Stamper Lane, and the hours haven't changed from past seasons: Fridays 6 to 10 p.m., Saturdays 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., Sundays noon to 6 p.m. Even on those first two non-haunted weekends, Friday and Saturday night visitors still need a flashlight to find their way through, since dusk in Godfrey in late September lands well before the 10 p.m. closing time. Flashlights run $3 at the concession stand if you forget yours.
Starting October 2, the haunted maze layers in alongside the regular one and runs through the rest of the season. Here's what admission looks like this year, whichever version you're going for:
| Ticket | Maze only | Maze + haunted combo |
|---|---|---|
| Adult (12 and up) | $8.00 | $10.00 |
| Child (6-11) | $6.00 | $8.00 |
| Child (5 and under) | Free | Free |
Beyond the maze itself, the property has grown a few extra attractions worth knowing about if you're bringing kids: a Cow Train that loops the park, a Hay Wagon ride, a free Corn Crib for kids 10 and under, and a Vortex Tunnel that's the newest addition to the lineup, a walk-through tunnel built to mess with your sense of balance for $2 a pass. Worth noting if you're bringing grandparents or anyone with mobility concerns: the ground inside the maze itself is uneven and not fully wheelchair accessible, so the Cow Train or Hay Wagon are the better bet for anyone who'd rather not navigate corn rows on foot.
The Fall Festival Lands on the Maze's Second Weekend
If you're building out a fall calendar rather than a single outing, mark September 26, eight days after the maze opens. That's when the Village of Godfrey holds its Fall Festival at Glazebrook Park starting at 11 a.m., which lands on the same weekend as the maze's last non-haunted Saturday. It's worth treating that Saturday as a full-day plan rather than two separate errands: festival in the late morning, maze once the sun starts dropping.
The Bluff Where You Can Play a Round Two Different Ways
Godfrey's fall weekends aren't limited to one park. A couple of miles from Glazebrook, on Route 3 at 2421 West Delmar, LaVista Park covers 93 acres of Mississippi River bluff and holds an 18-hole disc golf course that's genuinely built for more than one kind of player. The course has three separate tee sets: red at 3,612 feet, white at 5,808 feet, and blue at 6,843 feet, which means a first-timer and someone who's played competitively can walk the same course on the same afternoon at almost double the distance from each other. The park itself is intentionally kept in a more natural, passive-use state, with a mile-long paved trail along the lower half of the bluff and a kids' Discovery Garden tucked into one corner.
If disc golf isn't your game but a real round of golf is, Godfrey gives you two different experiences depending on how much time you've got. Rolling Hills Golf Course is the quick option: 18 holes, a driving range, and an executive or footgolf course if you're short on daylight or patience. Lockhaven Golf Club & Banquet Facility is the other end of that spectrum, a professionally designed 18-hole, par-72 course laid out on the bluffs with river views the whole way around. Same town, two very different Saturday mornings depending on which one you pick.
Where the Weekend Actually Ends
Every good outdoor day in Godfrey ends with food or coffee, and the town's options tend to sit on the quieter, more personal end of the spectrum rather than the chain-restaurant one. Germania Brew Haus is the coffee stop most people mention first. Bakers & Hale leans into a farm-to-table menu in a rustic setting, often with live music going, which makes it a natural stop after a round of disc golf or a maze visit that ran later than planned. Josephine's Tea Room is the slower option, built more for a light lunch and dessert than a quick bite, and pairs well with a morning at LaVista's walking trail. For breakfast before any of the above, the Clifton Country Inn & Bake Shop handles home-style cooking if you're heading out early.
If you want one more stop that has nothing to do with corn, hay wagons, or golf carts, Lewis and Clark Community College's Signature Gardens sit on the school's 215-acre campus and include art installations scattered through the grounds, including a Sacagawea statue by sculptor Glenna Goodacre. It's a quieter, slower kind of stop, good for the Sunday after a busier Saturday.
Why This Matters If You Live Here
The generic version of this post tells you the corn maze exists and lists a few restaurants nearby. What actually helps, if you already live in Godfrey and are trying to figure out your next few Saturdays, is knowing that the calendar has a shape to it. The maze's season is nearly two months long, not one October weekend. The haunted version doesn't start until October 2, which means the family-friendly window opens this weekend and won't last long. The Fall Festival lands squarely inside that window, giving you a natural pairing for one Saturday. And everything else, the disc golf on the bluffs, the two very different golf courses, the coffee and tea rooms that close out the day, sits close enough together that you're not driving all over the Metro East to string a weekend together.
That's the kind of detail that only shows up if you're actually paying attention to how a town's calendar moves through a season, not just what's technically open. It's the same kind of attention I try to bring to how a neighborhood functions day to day, not just what a listing photo shows. If you ever find yourself thinking about what it would mean to make a move within Godfrey, or into it, Joni Stanley is always glad to talk through it. Let's Connect.
