Star Trek corn maze one of many fun suburban fall treks

From chasing fireflies to chasing sunscreen-shy kids, the summer was a brilliant blur of motion.

But the wind is changing.

Fall is tapping us on the shoulder.

Time to mothball the flip-flops and dig out sweaters, to check the prep football schedule, and find the most sincere pumpkin patch.

Time for your heart to flip over as a kindergartner skips into his class or a freshman waves goodbye from her college dorm room.

And as we exchange garden forks for rakes, it's time to embrace this most mercurial of seasons.

"Fall is probably one of two times in the year when the natural environment changes so quickly, you can go to the same place two days in a row and literally see changes occur before your eyes," Morton Arboretum manager of plant records Ed Hedborn said.

"The air gets crisper ... the quality of sunlight seems to change ... the colors seem sharper and clearer. I like the richness of the colors of autumn, the breadth of palette - everything red to oranges to pinks to purples to russets and browns."

The Morton Arboretum's Lisle autumn color show lasts as long as the leaves do, and it's just one of myriad events you can read about in the Daily Herald's annual Fall Fun guide inside today's paper.

For fifth-generation farmer George Richardson, fall starts months in advance of September. That's when he, wife Wendy and other family members brainstorm their newest epic corn maze design.

This year, Richardson Adventure Farm in Sugar Grove is boldly going where no man has gone before with a "Star Trek"-themed maze commemorating the 50th anniversary of the iconic TV series.

Trekkies and non-Trekkies alike can lose themselves in 28½ acres and 9½ miles of corn, winding through Mr. Spock's Vulcan ears or Capt. Kirk's hair and the bridge of the USS Enterprise.

Richardson notes, however, that "we have never lost anyone yet. ... We actually design the maze with no dead ends so you won't get stuck for hours."

There have been Richardsons at the farm since it was homesteaded in 1840. They've grown crops and raised cattle and pigs, but in 2001 the family branched out with the corn maze and discovered "maybe we like this more than raising pigs," Richardson said.

"Fall is the time to get outside and enjoy those last months of great weather before we have to load up with thick overcoats for winter," he said. "When the nights cool down, that hot chocolate, that hot cider and cider doughnuts - man, they taste good in the fall."

Over by the Fox River, the St. Charles Scarecrow Fest in October gives families a chance to DIY and to be spooked or enchanted by an array of over-the-top scarecrow contest entries.

"It connects us to yesterday," Greater St. Charles Convention and Visitors Bureau Associate Director DeAnn Wagner said.

Last year, she met a family with an annual tradition of building a scarecrow at the event. "They always have their pictures taken with their daughters in the same spot so they can see the progression over the years."