THE FOLLOWING IS A NEWS-GAZETTE STORY BY JENNIFER BAILEY
ABOVE: Chairwoman Kayla Goble is wearing her National Sweetcorn Festival T-shirt.
Want to purchase today’s print edition? Here’s a map of single-copy locations.
HOOPESTON — Just as Hoopeston is known for the Cornjerkers, it’s also the go-to spot on Labor Day weekend for its annual National Sweetcorn Festival, now in its 81st year.
The festival — put on by the Hoopeston Jaycees — runs Aug. 28-Sept. 1 this year at McFerren Park and includes a parade, National Sweetheart Pageant and free sweet corn (approximately 50 tons).
Kayla Goble, a 23-year-old Hoopeston native, is festival chairwoman. She works at Iroquois Memorial Hospital in Watseka in addition to select nights at her grandfather Doug Wagner’s Fast Lanes bowling alley and Pit Stop restaurant in Hoopeston.
FOR MORE FROM THIS STORY PLEASE GO TO https://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/community-events/national-sweetcorn-festival-part-of-hoopestons-history/article_94cedacb-1050-44ae-bdac-d99ae120b165.html
