Boxing legend Muhammad Ali's likeness is portrayed in a Queen Creek Corn field.

There’s something creepy about corn.

September 24, 2004

“Here’s a corny way to say thank you for making the Suns fun to watch.” That’s what the plaque read that was presented to Phoenix Suns point guard Steve Nash when he was announced as this year’s celebrity to be carved into the cornfield maze at Schnepf Farms in Queen Creek.

Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee, pop into a cornfield. Boxing great Muhammad Ali took a helicopter trip to Queen Creek Tuesday morning for a surprise honor - seeing his own image cut into a 10-acre cornfield at Schnepf Farms as part of the farm's sixth annual celebrity corn maze.

Question from the caller in Muncie, Indiana: What kind of birthday present do you get for the talk-show host who has everything?

From deep within the alien spaceship that crash-landed in a south Mesa dirt lot, a teenage girl’s piercing shriek escapes, perforating the cool night air. Deborah Molique breaks into a wide grin.

From deep within the alien spaceship that crash-landed in a south Mesa dirt lot, a teenage girl’s piercing shriek escapes, perforating the cool night air.

Without changing leaves and crisp air, we Valley dwellers rely on other harbingers to let us know autumn has arrived.

Turning the calendar to October means two things in the East Valley: cooler weather and pumpkin festivals.

It’s that time of year to get out and enjoy an entire day picking your favorite pumpkin, eating caramel apples, visiting a petting zoo and ending the night with fireworks and a haunted house. Or, to just take stroll through the pumpkin patch to snap a few photos with your family. Either way, the Valley has it all, and this is your one-stop guide for fall festivities in the East Valley.

Gather the kids and a camera: the season of autumn-themed backdrops is here. Pumpkin patches open across the Valley on Saturday. From basic, get-your-pumpkin-and-get-out places to festivals with farm animals and fireworks, here’s your guide to a month full of fall fun.

Gather the kids and a camera: the season of autumn-themed backdrops is here. Pumpkin patches open across the Valley on Saturday. From basic, get-your-pumpkin-and-get-out places to festivals with farm animals and fireworks, here’s your guide to a month full of fall fun.

Gather the kids and a camera: the season of autumn-themed backdrops is here. Pumpkin patches open across the Valley on Saturday. From basic, get-your-pumpkin-and-get-out places to festivals with farm animals and fireworks, here’s your guide to a month full of fall fun.

Gather the kids and a camera: the season of autumn-themed backdrops is here. Pumpkin patches open across the Valley on Saturday. From basic, get-your-pumpkin-and-get-out places to festivals with farm animals and fireworks, here’s your guide to a month full of fall fun.

There will be no shortage of pumpkins in Wade Kelsall’s pumpkin patch this October.

There will be no shortage of pumpkins in Wade Kelsall’s pumpkin patch this October.

There will be no shortage of pumpkins in Wade Kelsall’s pumpkin patch this October.

There will be no shortage of pumpkins in Wade Kelsall’s pumpkin patch this October.

It’s that time of year to get out and enjoy an entire day picking your favorite pumpkin, eating caramel apples, visiting a petting zoo and ending the night with fireworks and a haunted house. Or, to just take stroll through the pumpkin patch to snap a few photos with your family. Either way, the Valley has it all, and this is your one-stop guide for fall festivities in the East Valley.

Picking your own pumpkin is a tradition in Arizona even when fall temperatures still feel like summer. Family farms from Queen Creek to Dewey are opening their pumpkin patches to the public next month: