Sweet Corn Serenade An Early Signal To The End Of Summer

Young George Bellinger dives into an ear of corn at Sweet Corn Serenade on Thursday evening.

Oskaloosa, Iowa – Sweet Corn Serenade is one of the most popular summertime events held on the Oskaloosa Square every year.

The annual event starts the day off with vendors on the square, while a host of volunteers gather around the 255 dozen ears of corn, prepping them to be roasted and served to hundreds of hungry visitors.

Suzy Richards is one of those vendors who set up on Thursday for Sweet Corn Serenade. She loved the weather and the steady stream of visitors to her tables. “People are great, and it’s been busy.”

Richards has lots of experience at local vendor shows, she’s often found at the county fair, and the What Cheer Flea Market.

“This is my stress reliever,” explained Richards of the time and energy it takes to set up shop each time. “I love this. I love meeting new people and making new friends.”

Deanne De Groot works at the Oskaloosa Area Chamber and Development Office and has been a partner in planning and running Sweet Corn Serenade for the past eight years.

De Groot says that months of planning goes into making the afternoon festivities happen.

Conversations with partners such as Mahaska County Farm Bureau, and ordering the corn from their supplier, so they can grow that 255 dozen ears of corn that will be consumed.

Those 3060 ears of corn all need to be prepped by volunteers. Many of those volunteers are Oskaloosa Rotary Club members who spend their time chopping, roasting, and ultimately serving those ears of corn, along with a burger, to hungry visitors.

Those 3060 ears of corn were served up by 7:30 in the evening on Thursday, a similar situation to last year.

The event is now past its 30th year and has become a summertime tradition. A tradition that is family-friendly and brings neighbors together to the dinner table.

Janet Kuskie was found working at the corn roaster, an antique device that is loaned to the event every year by Pierson Seed Producers.

Kuskie is going into her second year as the Oskaloosa Main Street Board President.

Kuskie isn’t a native to Oskaloosa, and she remembers her first Sweet Corn Serenade. Kuskie says it was impressive and something she had never been to before. “It’s something I look forward to each year, and it seems to get bigger and bigger, which is what we want.”

One of Kuskie’s favorite memories of Sweet Corn Serenade was being a pie judge a few years ago. Now for her, seeing how many people come out for the evening’s festivities is greatly rewarding.

Kuskie, wiped away her hair from her face to load more corn into the roaster. She spoke about the manpower it takes to make an event like Sweet Corn Serenade happen. “We would like to thank all of our volunteers for helping. Without them, we wouldn’t be able to do this.”

Volunteers are being sought to help make other upcoming events happen. Things like the Lighted Christmas Parade need volunteers. Kuskie said that those interested can contact the staff at the Oskaloosa Area Chamber and Development Office, or message Oskaloosa Main Street on Facebook.

“It doesn’t have to be for hours on end. It could be an hour. That’d be awesome to have that amount of their time,” said Kuskie.

Sweet Corn Serenade is always special for us at Oskaloosa News since it was our first story we ever covered. It marks a new year of providing information to our readers about what is happening around them.

We look forward to sharing your stories as the year progresses.

I’ll share my thoughts from back in 2011 as we looked back at our first year. “Our first story was the Sweet Corn Serenade of 2010, and we have now hit our anniversary. Along the way, you have taught us many things, and most of them are good and show the care and desire our community has to grow and improve itself.”

“I used to be one of those folks that would say that there is nothing to do in this town, but after a year of covering the news in town, I almost wanted to ask you all to slow down!”

And this holds just as true today as it did back in 2011, “Our goal at Osky News has always been to provide fresh news, from a different perspective. We still need your help. Please send us your sports scores, ask your coaches to send them to us the same as they do other publications. Have your leader, no matter the organization, fill us in on what’s happening with you and your friends, so we can all share and be proud of your accomplishments.”

You can contact us on our Facebook page, email us at info@oskynews.org, or call or text us at 641.295.8455.

Thank you to our readers, supporters and advertisers. Without you, none of this would be possible. We look forward to finishing out this decade with you.

The link to our first ever story on Oskaloosa News – http://oskynews.org/sweet-corn-serenade/