Olathe Sweet Corn Festival

The claim to fame in Olathe is corn so sweet people traverse across the country to get in on it. One way to get in on the yellow gem is to saddle up for the annual Olathe Sweet Corn Festival. It was started in this small town to rev up the economy 20 years ago.

Now anywhere from 16,000 to 20,000 people pull out their straw hats and lawn chairs to celebrate a simple vegetable. A general admission ticket for $15.00 will land you a spot in the unlimited “corn on the cob” line. Dash it with salt, pepper or drizzle it with butter.

The corn is donated from a local farmer who picked 25,000 ears of fresh corn that day. Volunteers shuck and roast it on site. And there is more to do than eat corn. Some dove right in it! A winning car key was thrown inside a hot tub size tank filled with creamed corn and 10 participants were up the their ears in corn to find it.

If you ever find yourself at this corn filled frenzy, I hope corn is the main ingredient on your mind. If you get tired of picking corn out of your teeth your options are to visit typical vendor booths filled with jewelry and purses, catch one of the rare acts on the main stage, or watch motocross racers.

There could be much more corn incorporated to draw in crowds. What about a corny joke contest? Or Corn Olympics for everyone to participate in? Even a corn hole game. The bread and butter of this festival kept the butter and added corn. Hopefully next year they will spice it up to really make it the creamed corn of the crop.  

no images were found