Iowa week: Adel Sweet Corn Festival

On my adventures in Iowa I got to eat A LOT of sweet corn on the cob. You can NOT get good sweet corn in Los Angeles. For that matter I don't even know if you can get sweet corn, mostly just white corn on the cob. I had some at the state fair, I shucked some more corn for a family dinner and then again I devoured a few ears at the annual Adel Sweet Corn Festival.

The town of Adel is in the valley on the Raccoon River. It is a very charming example of small town life in the midwest with brick streets, a historic courthouse, turn-of-the-century architecture and distinctive shops.

The festival has the largest parade in Dallas County, a 5k race, food vendors, stage entertainment and a beer garden with dancing at night.

I of coarse go for the free sweet corn on the cob. They go through more than seven TONS of Iowa grown sweet corn! We got there just before the parade ended so we went straight to the line which had already formed about 1/2 a block. The corn started being served at 10a. They usually give you 3 ears at a time but you can really have just about as much as you want. By the time we got our corn, slathered it with liquid butter & salt, and gobbled it down... the line was nearly 2 blocks long.

As we ate we watched the corn process happen. They unload a line of about 12 crates of corn off a semi truck and load it on a giant steamer that gets lowered into boiling water. It only takes about 3 minutes before they come back up.

The line of people serving take the crates and pour them into their metal trough type thing and it's served!

After you get your corn (on a flimsy paper plate) you go over to one of the stations that have the vat of liquid pump butter and sprinkle salt & pepper.

The yummy butter drips and pours everywhere and leaves trails all over the streets.
It was a good time with my mom & grandparents!

Before & After... YUM!

2 kids dressed like corn. The Sheriffs dept has a dunk tank and I just really like the sign that was on the side of their trailer. (Mobile Command Center: Donated By Drug Dealers of America)

Cheese Curds!