Sweet Corn Festival

Both of my parents are from Iowa. They moved to Texas in 1976 when my dad got a job down here so my entire life has been filled with trips back to Iowa. I believe my first trip up there I was 2 weeks old!

Anywho...in the town where my parents lived and my grandma still does, they have a Sweet Corn Festival every August. When we (my sister and I) were young, I think we came up to the Sweet Corn Fest every single year. It was awesome! Now, the town is like population 1000. It's tiny. We can walk from my grandma's house to town square (where they hold the festivities) in about 10 minutes, if that. It's a gorgeous, peaceful, sleepy little town and I love it!

But since the festival is held about mid-August, once my sister started high school (and therefore summer band about August 1st) we could no longer make it to the Sweet Corn Fest. I was about 11 years old the last time we were there.

For years now, I've been talking about wanting to go back for the Sweet Corn Festival. I mean, heck, John and I have been together for 9 years and he's never been! Well, this was the year we were FINALLY able to make it. And I am so glad that we did. My grandma's pushing 86 and has lots of health issues so it's quite possible this was her last festival. But tons of the family came in for it this year, and I think we made it really special for her.

We had an absolutely wonderful time. I even got John almost convinced to move to Iowa! Haha! I didn't take a TON of pictures, but I'll share a few here that I did take. Just another brief synopsis of our little trip to the Midwest. :o)

I had to take a picture of our SWEET rental we got. I'm definitely glad that John convinced me to upgrade. It was AWESOME!

Us, at the infamous Shuckfest. We helped shuck 17 TONS of corn that evening. How long did it take? About half an hour. Crazy, huh?? And yes, that is a corn necklace I'm wearing!

That Friday we went out on the Mississippi with some cousins and their friends for their annual Empty Koozie Day. 8 hours on the river. It was TONS of fun! As you can see we didn't make it back to the marina until almost sunset. So peaceful out there...

I thought this turned out to be a great picture of us. That's my super cute pearl snap shirt I got at Marshall's right before we left. Perfect outfit for a small town festival...I was just missing the cowboy boots! :o)

Every year at the Sweet Corn Festival my family has our annual "Axe Throwing Contest". Yes, you heard that right. Axe throwing. John was quite excited to compete in his first contest. In our family, we take our axe throwing quite seriously. :o)