2023 DATE: August 12, 2023
This post documents my experience on August 18, 2012.
Before going to a festival, I try to do as little research as possible. That way, I can appreciate the festival as if I happened upon it, making my impressions more natural and preventing disappointments created from my own expectations.
That’s why, when I arrived in Swanton, I thought that it would be a small town festival in a small town park with a few small local vendors…
…and, hopefully, some corn.
So just imagine my surprise…
…when I stumbled upon this!
Celebrating its 104th festival this year, the Swanton Corn Festival was enormous…
…with its own map to lead you around Swanton Memorial Park…
…where you could participate in basketball…
…volleyball…
…and even horseshoes.
Kids had an even better end of the deal…
…thanks to the park’s various playgrounds…
…Happy the Clown…
…(with his not-so-happy sidekick)…
…and an entire carnival-esque wonderland (D & D)…
…equipped with games…
…rides…
…and miniature golf.
For festival goers who desired less active means of entertainment….
…there were three stages on the grounds…
…featuring some great music (Ragtime Rick).
…a huge car show…
…complete with raffle (Pharoah’s Car Club)…
…a Life Flight helicopter…
…and a large adult beer area with corn hole…
…which was coincidentally close to the Life Flight helicopter.
Amongst all this stuff…
…were various vendor booths…
…complete with organizations to help you in both occupation and faith (National Guard/Swanton Alliance)…
…as well as offer shopping selections via clothing, plants…
…children’s books (Thomas Carpenter)…
…and official corn festival T-shirts (Biscayne Custom Screen Printing)…
.
…with a great “Corn Stock” look.
Although I didn’t see the festival push this theme much further (maybe in entertainment?)…
…I did enjoy the corn decor used by the festival…
…and certain food booths hosted by local organizations (Swanton Rotary).
Unfortunately, these local food booths had more corn decor…
…than the only corn booth on site.
With a skimpy booth and rather small sign, I almost missed it completely….
…it’s not even on the map…
…although the Chicken BBQ is.
Fortunately, if festival goers did miss it by accident…
…the Lions had popcorn available…
…and Fernando’s had one or two corn products too.
¡Olé!