The Hoopeston Sweetcorn Festival once again brought loads of people and loads of sweetcorn; and as event chairperson Megan West explained to Neuhoff Media while the corn was being served on Sunday, it also brought an extra assist from the south as far as bringing in enough corn.
AUDIO: Since we don’t grow enough around the Hoopeston area anymore; we don’t have the canning factories anymore to supply the corn; we get it from other states like, you know, Michigan or Wisconsin. They year, we had a little bit of a hiccup. I’m pretty sure this corn came from Louisiana. It traveled far to get here.
(2nd Picture) Traci Rush, Tab Rush, and Event Chair Megan West pose at the front of the corn line. The legendary steam engine that cooks the corn every year can be seen in the background.
And as anyone who attended knows, the loud steam engine was back once again. As Megan reminds us, THAT’S what does all the real work, along with the loads of volunteers.
AUDIO: That steams the water. That cooks the corns. The steam engine cooks the corn; it comes to these troughs. heats it up and we cook the corn in there; and then we go and dump it over there in the tray. Then they butter it and salt it and hand it out.
Neuhoff Media also ran into some folks working the south gate; who were also, by the way, promoting an upcoming event at the Vermilion County Fairgrounds; the Middle Fork Jeep Fest for Mission K9 Warrior. Heather Acamcik explains.
AUDIO: We’re out here now just raising money for Mission K9 Warror, which is Post 203 of the Georgetown American Legion. And they raise money for service dogs for Veterans.
THAT event, by the way, is Saturday, September 16th. Last year they raised $15,000 to help fund one service dog for a Veteran, and they’d love to top that this year.
