Towns across Illinois close off the streets, schedule musical entertainment, hold arts and crafts fairs and stoke up antique steam engines to celebrate the Midwest’s sweetest harvest. At festivals where corn is king and melted butter its finger-licking-good consort, tens of thousands of loyal corn-loving subjects lineup for just-picked ears. Depending on the celebration, festgoers find nominally priced cobs, steamed, roasted or sold fresh by the dozen. Most of the festivals hand out free corn during complimentary corn boils, scheduled for at least one afternoon of the festival.
If you shuck it they will come, says JoEllyn Gahan, of the Mendota Chamber of Commerce. She ought to know; this year the town is sponsor-ing its 53rd Sweet Corn Festival.
“We’re expecting between 50,000 and 60,000 people,” says Gahan. “That’s pretty good for a town of 7,000 people. When we throw a party, we throw a party!”
And some party it is — the crowds are expected to consume 50,000 ears of corn donated by Del Monte during the four-day festival.
Mendota isn’t alone in satisfying kernel-craving hordes. Last year at Urbana’s Sweet Corn Festival, volunteers shucked 40 ears of corn per minute to keep up with the demands of 40,000 visitors. Twenty tons of free corn are handed out during Hoopeston’s National Sweetcorn Festival. During the two-day Downtown Normal Corn Festival, volunteers sell 55,000 ears of corn at a quarter an ear or $2 a dozen. And at the DeKalb Corn Festival, organizers go through 13 tons of corn and more than 250 pounds of butter.
Whether manning the boiler, heaving cooked cobs with a pitchfork or shucking countless ears of corn, volunteers find the festivals as much fun as the visitors, says Kay Wild of the Mt. Vernon Convention and Visitors Bureau. Mt. Vernon hosts the Southern Illinois Sweet Corn and Watermelon Festival, now in its 29th year.
“On Saturday morning, the corn shuckoff begins at 6:30 a.m.,” says Wild, describing the preparations for that afternoon’s corn giveaway. “Organizations set up five or six tables, and they are racing to see who can shuck the most corn. Shucks just fly and so do machetes — they take the ends of the corn off with machetes.”
Flying shucks and machetes and more corn than you can imagine — that’s a festival. Here’s a look at upcoming corn celebrations.
18th Annual Coon Creek Country Days, Friday through Sunday, Hampshire: No country festival would be complete without fresh-from-the-field corn. On Sunday afternoon, starting at 1 p.m., volunteers pass out more than 6,000 ears of free corn during the corn boil running in conjunction with a pork roast. Held at Bruce Ream Memorial Park, the festival features a carnival, food vendors and special events. Friday night celebrates the 1950s with an Elvis impersonator and a classic car show. A craft and flea market runs Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday, the fest features firefighter water fights, a dessert bakeoff, music and a fireworks display. Sunday there’s a noon parade, followed by the free corn boil, concerts, free-throw contest and more. Take Interstate Highway 90 west to Illinois Highway 47 and then south to Illinois Highway 72. Take Illinois 72 west to State Street in Hampshire and travel south to the park. 847-683-0375
St. Andrew’s Sweet Corn Festival, Saturday, Carol Stream: Smaller than its rural counterparts, this church festival provides close-to-home corn consumption. A garage sale kicks off the action at 8 a.m. By 11 a.m. there are entertainment, kids games, a silent auction and brats, hot dogs, pork sandwiches and buttered ears of locally grown corn. A hot dog, drink and all-you-can-eat corn costs $5.50; a brat or pork sandwich, drink and non-stop corn costs $6.50. On Gary Avenue about a quarter mile north of North Avenue, Carol Stream. 630-653-7116.
Sweet Corn Festival, Thursday through Aug. 13, Mendota: The granddaddy of corn celebrations (it’s the 53rd annual event), Mendota’s street festival schedules musical entertainment in a variety of locations, 80 food vendors, a carnival and a Friday and Saturday night beer garden. Optimists roast and sell corn throughout the festival, and volunteers sell ears by the dozen on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. A flea market takes place on Saturday and Sunday. On Sunday, experimental aircraft fly in, classic cars are displayed and a parade starts at 1 p.m. After the parade, folks head to the corn boil for platters of complimentary corn. Take Interstate Highway 88 to Interstate Highway 39, south 28 miles, then exit at U.S. Highway 34 to downtown Mendota. 815-539-6507 or visit www.sweetcornfestival.com.
29th Southern Illinois Sweet Corn and Watermelon Festival, Aug. 11 through 19, Mt. Vernon: A number of special events lead up to the festival’s finale. A Hee-Haw Talent Show, street dances, go-cart races, gospel music, battle of the bands and more lead off to free corn, cooked by an antique steam engine, and free watermelon slices served on Saturday. Also on that day, shucks and machetes fly during the 6:30 a.m. corn shuckoff, a flea market showcases crafts and antiques, vendors serve up funnel cakes and hot dogs, and a parade steps off at 1 p.m. There are motorcross and car races in the afternoon. Take Interstate Highway 57 south to Mt. Vernon exit 95 and go east 4 miles. 800-252-5464.
DeKalb Corn Fest 2000, Aug. 25 to 27, DeKalb: Celebrating the harvest and welcoming back Northern Illinois University students, this downtown street fest serves up 13 tons of corn, top-name musicians and bushel baskets of family fun. Throughout the festival local Kiwanis sell steamed and roasted corn; but come Sunday, between 11:30 a.m. and 2 p.m., the corn’s on the house. The Soundstage, near the beer garden, hosts big band sounds on Friday evening, Eddie Money at 6 p.m. Saturday and the Grass Roots at 4 p.m. Sunday. The festival also features an arts and crafts show, a corn maze, a carnival, kids’ art fest and musicians performing everything from rock to reggae on Saturday and Sunday afternoons. Take Interstate Highway 88 west to Peace Road exit, north to Illinois Highway 38, west to downtown DeKalb. 815-756-6306 or www.dekalb.org.
25th annual Sweet Corn Festival, Aug. 26, Urbana: The festival kicks off with a street dance on Friday, but the corn-eating action takes place on Saturday. From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. downtown streets host a celebrity corn-eating contest, a carnival, a couple of dozen food vendors, children’s games, bands on two stages and ears of buttered corn, cooked with the help of an antique steam engine, for 50 cents each. Take Interstate Highway 57 south to Interstate Highway 74 east to Lincoln Street, south on Springfield Avenue, east to Main Street, Urbana. 217-344-3872 or visit www.urbanabusinessalliance.org.
Downtown Normal Corn Festival, Aug. 26 and 27, Normal: Early Saturday and Sunday morning, public works trucks head north to the Del Monte packing plant in Mendota and haul back 27,500 ears of fresh-picked corn each day. Within hours it’s steamed and buttered and for sale at 25 cents an ear. Take home a dozen ears for $2. During the festival, music, blues bands, a kiddy carnival and flea market, selling everything from the tacky to the sublime, help folks work up appetites for second and third helpings of corn. The fest runs from 10:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday and 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday. Take Interstate Highway 55 south to U.S. Highway 51, to downtown Normal. 309-454-9557.
57th National Sweetcorn Festival, Aug. 31 to Sept. 4, Hoopeston: Listen for the whistle to blow about noon or 1 p.m. on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. It’s the signal — echoing whistles that once marked the beginning and ending of corn-canning season at a now-defunct local cannery — that free corn is ready for eating. In addition to giving away more than 20 tons of corn, this festival boasts a beer tent, carnival, truck and tractor pulls (Thursday and Friday night), an art show, petting zoo, music, demolition derby (Saturday and Sunday), a flea market and more. The festival also hosts the National Sweetheart Pageant, where the first runners-up from state Miss America pageants compete for the National Sweetheart Crown. Take Interstate Highway 57 to Illinois Highway 9 (Paxton exit), go east to Hoopeston. 217-283-7873.
52nd annual Grundy County Corn Festival, Sept. 27 to Oct. 1, Morris: Once the largest inland grain-shipping port in Illinois, Morris celebrates its built-on-corn roots with a post-harvest celebration. Organizers roast and sell corn throughout the fest and on Friday, organizers pop corn at four stands and give it away as fast as they can make it. Expecting more than 100,000 people, the festival schedules a carnival, spaghetti supper, chicken dinner, flea market, farm fair, firefighter water fights, an art show, a grain and corn show, kids’ activities, horse-drawn surrey rides and live entertainment. Saturday night there’s a pyrotechnic display beginning at 8:30 p.m., and on Sunday there’s a 2 1/2 hour parade featuring more than 30 bands. Take Interstate Highway 80 west to IllinoisHighway 47 (Exit 112) and go south to downtown Morris. 815-942-2676.
