Corn Fest returns Saturday to the Community Church of Rolling Meadows for its 68th year. That’s right. Church leaders held its first corn fest in 1957 as more of a backyard barbecue for its members, before growing it each year with more and more activities.

Organizers ordered more than 10,000 ears of corn.

“We see it as a community outreach,” says Stephanie Jones, church secretary. “It’s not meant to be a fundraiser but as an outreach to the community.”

The event takes place from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday. It features an arts and crafts fair with 70 booths, as well as face painting and balloon creations for children, and even an instrument petting zoo presented by Bach to Rock, a music school in Arlington Heights. However its biggest draw continues to be the corn.

And church organizers know it. For the last several years they’ve worked with Tom’s Farm Market in Huntley to stock up for the fest, ordering more than 10,000 ears of corn.

The menu offers grilled burgers, brats, hot dogs and veggie burgers.

“It’s our biggest order for one festival,” says Deanna Reeves of the Farm Market. “We sell a lot of corn to the Knights of Columbus, here in Huntley, who roast it at various church festivals, but this is our biggest one-day order.”

Corn Fest menu options include grilled burgers, brats, hot dogs or veggie burgers, along with a slice of watermelon. But it’s the all you can eat bicolor corn, boiled and smothered in butter, that continues to be the draw.

The corn has become so popular, the fest also offers a multi-lane drive-through option for families to stock up on this fresh, summertime treat, either boiled or uncooked, in half-dozen or dozen size bags.

“There’s nothing like it,” Reeves says. “You can’t compare it to corn you buy in the store. It’s so fresh and delicious, it just melts in your mouth.”

Children’s activities include a corn maze.

Tom’s Farm Market dates back to 1959, when Tom opened a farm stand in Bartlett. He still operates it and the farm stand location sells even more corn — in season from July through October — than its Huntley location. Tom’s Farm also grows asparagus, green beans, zucchini, cucumbers, eggplant, squash, peppers, strawberries, watermelon, muskmelon and tomatoes, and features sunflower fields, all on its 240-acre farm along Algonquin Road in Huntley.

When church leaders ordered 205 bags of corn from Tom’s, with 50 ears of corn in each, Reeves questioned them.

“Are you sure,” she asked. “You do know that adds up to 10,250 ears of corn.”

They confirmed the order and will utilize church members to shuck the corn, the day of the fest, before they boil them and smother them in butter. This farm fresh produce, continues to draw patrons from across the Northwest suburbs, reflecting the enduring strength of these 1950s traditions — the Community Church of Rolling Meadows and Tom’s Farm Market in Huntley.

 

 

 

Please follow and like us:
Suburbtalk