National Sweetcorn Festival

The last hurrah of summer is finally here. When Labor Day rolls around, students and parents are sure the school year has begun, and they begin to settle in for the long grind. It also marks one of the great celebrations of the year anywhere.

This weekend is the 66th annual National Sweetcorn Festival in Hoopeston, Illinois. The celebration brings together an entire community of Cornjerkers, plus some of the most beautiful women in America, to raise the roof commemorating the end to the growing season and culmination of a summer of work in the fields.

I grew up across the street from McFerrin Park where the festivities will be held. I always enjoyed watching the carnival rides being brought in and set up, and the display tents rising out of the tennis courts. Being the enterprising youth I was, once my parents closed their restaurant, I sold the parking spaces to merrymakers who wanted to leave their cars outside the park. Once it was full, I parked them in my yard. Good money for a weekend for a kid.

The weekend marks the end of summer. Not so much now, since schools start a lot earlier now, but it used to be the one thing that kids looked forward to with anticipation and dread. The parade, the rides, food, and especially the corn that starts on Thursday evening and goes through Monday always brought smiles to people from around the area.

The Festival has consistently grown over the years. First runner-ups from states Miss America contest come to this little hamlet and spend a week strutting their stuff on the stage in the Pavilion to become the National Sweetcorn Sweetheart. Believe it or not, this is a very competitive beauty title and every once in a while, one of the girls has to leave to fill a role as her state’s representative to the Miss America Pageant.

The smell of cooking sweet corn slathered in butter and deftly sprinkled with salt takes center stage during the weekend. Sadly, the corn is no longer grown in the area like it used to be, but rather is trucked in from farms in other areas of the Midwest. The Hoopeston Jaycees will cook over 20 tons of corn this weekend and give it away to folks who will stand in line for hours to get their share.

On Saturday, the annual parade through downtown Hoopeston will take place. This used to be one of the premier events of Central Illinois. High School bands used to march through the streets and there was a band competition that took place. Politicians, TV stars, and local dignitaries dotted the lineup. I remember when the governor used to make an annual appearance, as well as state senators and the occasional US Representative. Floats, Boy and Girls scouts and civic organizations all had something in the parade that stretched from the Lorraine Theater, down Main Street, to Ninth Avenue and then into the back gate at McFerren Park.

Kids love the midway that has several rides guaranteed to make their stomachs turn. The Tilt-a-Whirl, the Merri-Mixer, the Rocket all made me dizzy and thrilled me. But the greatest ride of all was the Ferris Wheel. I remember hoping to get stalled at the top so I could look out over the town. I always had to end the weekend with a trip above the town on the Ferris Wheel.

Tomorrow, an excerpt from my upcoming novel that captures more of the weekend and pride that the community feels.

Doughnut.