Long before Cooper Flagg was the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft, he was picking peas at Thunder Road Farm in Corinna.
And now the NBA rookie’s amazing year will continue as the centerpiece of Thunder Road’s annual corn maze. Thunder Road announced the Flagg theme in a Facebook post on Sunday, sharing an aerial shot of the maze design that includes Flagg dunking and the words “The Maine Event.”
Farmgoers will have an opportunity to navigate the maze on Saturdays and Sundays between Sept. 13 and Oct. 26. The maze will be open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. those seven weekends, with final entry at 5 p.m.
Farm owner Barb Peavey said the idea of featuring Flagg in this year’s maze design originated from her husband, Charlie.
“So he kind of initially brought it to my attention, and we agreed and we thought it would be a good one,” Peavey said. “So I got in touch with Kelly [Flagg], his mom, and asked her and had her ask Cooper, and they were all on board and thought it would be a great idea.”
Peavey’s son Kellen, who played basketball with Flagg and his brothers on the 2022 state championship team from Nokomis Regional High School, came up with the idea for the “Maine event” theme with that moniker being commonly used for Flagg.
The farm works each year with the same Utah-based company that designs corn mazes across the country, and sent the design for its six acre maze to Kelly and Cooper Flagg to have them approve it, Barb Peavey said.
“We wanted to honor Cooper,” she said. “He’s a great kid, and it was just our part and our way of saying congratulations to him.”
The family run operation includes four of the Peavey’s five children, and a multitude of connections to the Flaggs from neighboring Newport.
“My husband went to school with Cooper’s grandfather, and then our oldest son Kyle went to school with Kelly,” Peavey said. “Our youngest son Kellen grew up with Cooper actually, and he was on the basketball team with them for Nokomis when they won, and he’s played with him on and off some growing up. And I actually worked at the same school that Kelly worked at, so we worked together, and then Cooper actually worked for us for two or three years picking peas.”
And for those who are used to Flagg’s level of effort on the basketball court, they’ll likely be unsurprised by his approach on the farm.
“He was a good pea picker,” Peavey said. “He was in competition all the time with his brothers and stuff. No matter what Cooper does, he wants to be the best at [it].”
Sitting for several hours on a five gallon bucket while picking peas, especially for someone like Flagg who has pretty much always been tall, is “not the easiest thing to do,” according to Peavey. But Flagg still approached the job with a relentless and consistent work ethic.
It’s the same work ethic that has helped catapult him to the highest level of professional basketball at just 18 years old.
“We’re just really proud of him,” Peavey said. “It’s humbling and we can’t believe that a young man from a small town in Maine, that we know, is in the NBA. We just think it’s awesome, we love the family to death. They’re a great family.”
Peavey credited parents Kelly and Ralph Flagg for the way they have raised Cooper.
“He’s just a very humble kid. He’s just a very down to earth kid,” Peavey said. “He hasn’t changed any, which we just really appreciate. He knows where his roots have come from, and I don’t think he’ll ever forget about his roots and the people that he grew up with.”
Entry for the maze will be $12 per person, and the farm is also hoping to be able to raffle off some Cooper Flagg-themed items to benefit the Ronald McDonald House Charities.
“We’re really excited this year about this one,” Peavey said. “The maze came out perfect.”
