Dolly Parton-Themed Corn Mazes Pop Up on Farms Nationwide

Nearly two dozen farms across the country have built Dolly Parton-themed corn mazes for the 2026 fall season, according to ABC News Live, which sent correspondent Reena Roy to walk through one of them in New Jersey.

The report, published Oct. 21, 2026, frames the mazes as part of a broader wave of celebrity- and pop-culture-themed agritourism attractions that farms have leaned on in recent years to draw visitors during the fall harvest season. ABC News did not name every participating farm or specify the full list of states involved beyond confirming the New Jersey stop and the nationwide scope of the trend.

How many farms are doing a Dolly Parton maze this year?

ABC News Live reported "nearly two dozen farms across the country" are featuring a Parton-themed maze this fall. The network did not publish a state-by-state breakdown or an official tally from a maze-design company, so the figure should be read as an approximate count tied to this fall's season rather than a verified national registry number.

What did ABC News show at the New Jersey farm?

Reena Roy's segment follows her route through one maze in New Jersey, giving viewers a firsthand look at how the Parton theme is carved into the field. The segment is framed as a walk-through rather than an interview-driven feature; ABC News did not identify the specific New Jersey farm by name in the publicly available video description, and the network's on-air report is the only confirmation of that visit.

Why are farms choosing Dolly Parton for a maze theme this fall?

The ABC News segment does not include a stated reason from the farms themselves for choosing Parton as this year's theme, and no farm representative is quoted in the source material. The report presents the mazes as a seasonal attraction tied to the fall corn-maze calendar, without further explanation of licensing, design process, or how farms selected the theme.

Fall Maze Season by the Numbers

• Nearly two dozen farms nationwide are running a Dolly Parton-themed maze this fall, per ABC News Live.
• The New Jersey maze segment aired as part of ABC News Live's coverage dated Oct. 21, 2026.

What to watch as the season continues

• Maze closing dates: Corn mazes typically run through late October or early November; ABC News' report does not list closing dates for the Parton-themed mazes, so visitors should check directly with individual farms.
• Additional farm names: ABC News Live has not published a full list of the nearly two dozen participating farms beyond the New Jersey location shown in the segment.
• Follow-on coverage: Given the volume of fall-attraction stories ABC News Live is running this month — including other local-news segments on its video page — additional farm-specific features could surface before the season ends.
• Weather disruptions: ABC News Live's broader fall coverage has flagged East Coast coastal storms with high winds, which could affect outdoor attractions including corn mazes in the region.

What ABC News did not confirm

The source segment does not name a maze-design company, does not quote a farm owner or Dolly Parton's representatives, and does not specify whether the theme is licensed or independently created by each farm. It also does not list the states where the nearly two dozen mazes are located beyond confirming New Jersey as one site Roy visited. Readers looking for a specific farm near them should consult local agritourism listings, since ABC News Live's report functions as a video feature rather than a directory.

The segment sits within ABC News Live's regular video-news rotation, alongside unrelated same-day stories on the midterm elections, a hazmat incident in Toledo, and weather coverage — all cataloged on the same video page where the corn-maze segment appears.

Where does this fit in the broader fall-attraction trend?

The corn-maze segment is one of dozens of short video features ABC News Live runs through its daily rotation, which on Oct. 21, 2026, also included stories on the midterm elections, a hazmat leak in Toledo, and a coastal storm bringing high winds to the East Coast, according to the same video listing. ABC News Live did not connect the Parton mazes editorially to any of those other stories; they appear together only because they ran on the same programming day.

The network's framing — "nearly two dozen farms across the country" — leaves open whether the figure comes from a maze-design vendor, a farm-tourism association, or ABC News' own reporting. No source document naming a tally-keeper accompanies the segment, and Roy's on-camera walk-through remains the sole piece of video evidence tied to the claim.