ADEL — Volunteers gathered Friday to shuck five tons of corn for Saturday’s 38th Sweet Corn Festival in Adel. The corn will be steamed and given away for free at the conclusion of the festival parade, which begins at 9:30 a.m.
Adel Partners Chamber of Commerce sponsors the annual event, with the popular parade drawing so many entries and such crowds that the population of the city is said to more than double, to well over 10,000 on the day of the event.
Today’s activities begin with a 5K run at 8 a.m. with the parade to start at 9:30 a.m. Entrants, who do not need to register, are asked to arrive early and line up at 18th and Greene Streets. The parade will proceed east down Prairie Street this year, a change from the normal Main Street route, as construction work has forced the new path. The end point will remain 12th Street.
There will be vendors of all kinds and numerous activities throughout the day on the courthouse square. Round-A-Bout will provide musical entertainment from 11:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. with local favorites The Sons of Gladys Kravitz taking to the stage at 6 p.m.
Adel Partners purchased five tons of sweet corn for all to consume, free of charge, today. The steaming cobs will be served after the parade has ended.
A small army of volunteers sat on plastic crates or stood near tables Friday, beginning at 5:30 p.m. to shuck the corn. A refrigerated trailer and scores of plastic milk crates, donated for the event by Andersen Erickson Dairies, served as the overnight destination for 10,000 pounds of Iowa goodness.
Volunteers will flash steam the golden treats for serving, with plenty of butter, salt and, of course, paper towels also to be provided. Appetites activated by the sight and smell of the corn generally creates a line of at least one city block, which in most years begins forming well before the parade’s final entries pass.
Corn will be served next door to where it was shucked — the parking lot south of the Adel Fire Station at 10th and Prairie Streets.
