Chicago is famous for many things, but fruit and vegetable festivals are not among them.
Luckily, being tucked away in the Midwest, the city is surrounded by vast stretches of farmland that do produce some of the finest fruits and vegetables — and their subsequent festivals — all summer long. These celebrations yield bushels of watermelon seed-spitting contests, floats in the shape of corncobs and “golf” tournaments using plums, peaches and cherries. These fests — with apologies to Rodgers and Hammerstein — are as corny as Illinois in August.
And that means daytrippers can, for once, heed the adage “Eat your fruits and vegetables” without being told.
The first crop to ripen is strawberries. Though strawberry seeds have been found at sites 7,000 years old, raising strawberries was not a commercially sound idea until until refrigeration became widespread, a century ago.
Deciding when to pick the berries is tricky, says grower Rick Breeden. “It’s all out of our control. Growers don’t have to go to Vegas, because in the Midwest we gamble every day of our lives.”
Watermelon, corn, pickles, peach and garlic are among the other foods to receive salutes. A welcome time-out for garden junkies and families to enjoy the fruits of others’ labors, the following festivals offer enough to make vegetarians of us all:
– The Long Grove Strawberry Festival, June 20, 21 and 22: This is the 15th annual strawberry bash in historic Long Grove. Each day offers bands, food booths and kiddie rides with a strawberry and whipped-cream shortcake-eating contest Saturday and Sunday. Also on Saturday is the classic car show and performances of “Peter Rabbit & the Strawberry Patch.” Sunday features a flea market and the music of The Strawberry Pickers Fiddlers. The event draws as many as 40,000 people and will be held rain or shine from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. all three days. Long Grove is at Ill. Hwy. 53 and Ill. Hwy. 83. Main events at corner of Old McHenry Road and Robert Parker Coffin Rd. Free admission, parking lot. Call 847 634-0888.
– Wauconda Orchards has two tributes to fruit. Summer Fest, the 100-acre farm’s former Strawberry Jubilee event, is tentatively scheduled for June 22 and 23. Owner Rick Breeden only half-jokes when he says about the dates for the fest, “We’re not making any guarantees. We’ll have it if the weather co-operates for strawberry harvesting.”
Festivities include hayrides, live music and strawberries served on shortcakes, ice cream and in pies.
– Wauconda Orchards also hosts Country Fest on July 27, timed to coincide with the first raspberry harvest (a second crop matures in the fall). This day-long event features all-things-raspberry — including tarts, turnovers, strudel, syrup, jellies and jams — and live music from Big Guitars from Memphis. Come dressed for picking raspberries (using natural insect repellent). Berries are $2.50 a pound. The rest is free. The farm also features a restaurant and country store. Wauconda Orchards is located 1201 Gossell Rd. in Wauconda, 10 miles west of Int. Hwy 94 and Ill. Hwy. 176. Call 1-800-362-7753.
– The 12th Annual Cherry Festival in Eau Claire, Mich., June 29, July 4. Move over, big Mac, Eau Claire mixes ground cherries with its ground beef. The cherry, a descendant of the rose, will be featured in every imaginable way during this festival, which is planned on two separate summer days. Cherries benefit from the cool weather at the eastern side of Lake Michigan. It forces them not to bloom early so there is ultimately less chance of frost damage.
Pit your skills against locals at the cherry-pie-eating and cherry-sit-and-spit contests or try a tractor pull for kids, volleyball, wheelbarrow races, horseshoe pitch, log splitting and carnival rides. On the 4th, there will be a cherry-themed parade and the crowning of the cherry prince and princess (ages 2-5). Eau Claire is located in Southwest Michigan about a 90-minute drive from Chicago. Take Int. Hwy. 94 south to Pipestone Rd. and follow signs to Eau Claire. Free. Call 616-461-6173.
– The International Cherry spitting Championship is held down the road in Eau Claire at nearby Tree-Mendus Fruit Farm July 5th. 616-782-7101.
– The National Cherry Festival in Traverse City Mich.,”cherry capital of the world,” takes place July 5-12, culminating with the grand parade July 12, and is one of America’s largest festivals. It’s a destination event, but the long drive (308 miles) is worth it. You’ll have memories of scenic nature and enjoy the best cherry pie you’ll ever taste.
– Berrien Springs Fourth of July and Pickle Celebration, July 4. Cultivated as a vegetable, the cucumber is really a fruit that grows from a vine, finally winding up as a pickle at the deli counter. Try it with ice cream on Independence Day and find out what pregnant women have been talking about. Berrien Springs is in southwest Michigan. Information is available by calling 616-473-6921.
– Decatur’s Celery Festival, Aug. 1-2. A highly wearable fashion color this year, celery has yet to hit the big-time as an edible except with dieters. Still the stalk is honored as a viable crop in Michigan. Call 616-423-7237.
-The Benton Harbor Garlic Festival, Aug. 2. It’ll be a battle of the bulb between Italian food lovers and health afficianados. Hail garlic, not only a delicious ingredient but also a healing one. Call 616-927-2044.
– Coloma Glad-Peach Festival Aug. 1-3, Coloma, Mich. The peach, immortalized in the writings of Confucius and favored by Thomas Jefferson, who cultivated the fruit on his Monticello estate, is at home in hospitable Midwestern soil. Eat a peach at this family event, which also includes kids games, arts and crafts, street dancers and fireworks. Int. Hwy 94 to Exit 39. Call 616-468-4077.
– South Haven National Blueberry Festival, Aug. 7-10 in South Haven, Mich. Event honors the state that produces the nation’s largest crop of cultivated blueberries. Some events have admission charges. Call 616-637-5171.
– 50th National Sweet Corn Festival, Aug. 8-10 in Mendota, Ill. Home to the DelMonte packing plant, Mendota, 85 miles southwest of Chicago, hosts one of the largest festivals in Illinois. The corn is picked in the early hours of the morning, cleaned, cooked, then passed out free. Bands, Shriners, corn-themed floats, antique and classic car displays, the Decatur singers, carnival rides, Chicago’s South Shore Drill Team and an oldies revue will be on hand. The Sweet Corn Festival Queen is crowned Friday night. Saturday there’s a flea market with 200 booths and a Little Miss Sweet Corn and MiniKing coronation. Sunday there’s a country breakfast and in the afternoon, there will be a line-dancing demo. Take Int. Hwy. 88 to Hwy. 39 and exit at Ill. Hwy. 34 (Ogden Ave.) to Mendota. Free admission and parking. Call 815-539-6507.
– Southern Illinois Sweet Corn and Watermelon Festival, Aug. 16, Mt. Vernon, Ill. The corn is cooked by a steam locomotive in the center of town, then put in three water troughs; vendors use paintbrushes to slather on the butter. Now in its 26th year, the festival draws some 10,000 people who consume 4 tons of corn and 4 tons of watermelon while enjoying the small town’s friendly atmosphere. Soybeans also flourish in the region, but they don’t yet have a festival named for them. Longtime resident and event planner Don Peacock explains it simply: “You can’t eat soybeans.” Call 800-252-5464.
Corn is king at festivals throughout Illinois, and huskers who are looking for more should check out the downtown areas of DeKalb on Aug. 22-24 (815-748-2676); Urbana on Aug. 23 (217-384-6304); and Normal on Aug. 23 and 24 (309-454-9557).
– Watermelon Seed-spitting and Speed-Eating championship, Sept. 6-7 in Pardeeville Wis. This event, set along Park Lake, finds local spitters and international sticky fingers from as far as Australia and Algeria competing. Eating record stands at 2.5 pounds of watermelon in 3.5 seconds. Events include parades, melon sculptures, bands, free watermelon and water-ski shows. Northeast of Madison, Pardeeville is 176 miles from Chicago. Call 608-429-2873.
– Festival of the Vine, Sept. 12, 13, 14 in Geneva, celebrates pumpkins, squash and most particularly grapes. The Vine Poetry Celebration features budding local poets as well as free horse-drawn antique carriage rides, live bands, strolling entertainers, twilight miniature golf with glow-in-the-dark balls, microbrew beer and wine tastings and seminars, olive oil samples, food booths and an arts and crafts show. Hours are 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily with free admission; food tickets are $.50 each. Geneva is 35 miles west of Chicago at Roosevelt Road and Ill. Hwy. 31. Call 630-232-6060.
– 24th Annual Cranberry Festival, Sept. 26, 27 and 28 in Warrens, Wis. This harvest festival salutes the cranberry, grown in colorful bogs in Wisconsin, one of only five states in the U.S. to produce the crop. A tour of the illuminated cranberry beds, which are like bright red seas, is included, along with parades, cranberry pies and jellies as well as an arts and antique show with 700 booths. Also in Warrens (260 miles from Chicago) is the Cranberry Expo museum. Call 608-378-4200.
