‘It’s a DeKalb tradition’: 43rd annual DeKalb Corn Fest headed downtown Friday through Sunday

DeKALB – A DeKalb tradition will return this Friday through Sunday: Corn Fest will be held in downtown DeKalb.

The 43rd annual Corn Fest will be held in downtown DeKalb on Lincoln Highway between First and Fourth streets.

Corn Fest is one of the last remaining free music festivals among Illinois music festivals and summer festivals. All shows are free to the public, the soundstage requires a fee to enter. A daily pass is $10 and the weekend pass is $25. The Sound Stage’s headliner this year is Eddie Montgomery of Montgomery Gentry, who will perform from 4:30 to 6 p.m. Sunday.

In addition to the sound stage, a community stage will be held inside the Egyptian Theatre, and the festival also will have a bags tournament, an art fest for kids, a kid fest, and a carnival with rides.

No coolers, outside alcoholic beverages, motorized vehicles, skateboards, roller blades or pets are allowed at the festival, except for service animals.

Parking is available throughout the downtown DeKalb area. A parking lot will be free and open to the public at the corner of Fourth and Grove streets. Trans VAC will offer free door-to-door pick up for seniors and people with disabilities.

“Corn Fest has always been the last hurrah before everyone gets back to regularly scheduled life,” said Melissa Butts, Corn Fest’s site director and vendor chairwoman. “This year is even more special because it’s a little chance to celebrate we’re still here and we’ve made it.”

This year’s vendors include local nonprofits, representatives from Northern Illinois University and Kishwaukee College, downtown businesses and food vendors, including corn dogs from McKinney’s and gourmet cotton candy from Sweet Butts Cotton Candy.

“What makes Corn Fest fun is the people,” Butts said. “For anybody that grew up in DeKalb, it’s kind of a mini reunion. It’s a DeKalb tradition.”

The Chuck Siebrasse Corn Boil, featuring free ears of corn steamed by a steam traction engine, will be from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday or until corn runs out.

This year, the Wessels family will supply more than 8,000 ears of sweet corn for the corn boil. The Wessels own a produce stand at 2023 Sycamore Road in DeKalb.

“You can’t have a corn fest without corn, and my bi-colored sweet corn is the sweetest and best sweet corn in the world,” farmer Rob Wessels said. “Put that sweet corn up against any sweet corn anywhere, and it’s really, really good. There’s music and vendors and a carnival, but Corn Fest needs good corn.”

Thursday morning, about 30 volunteers from Illinois’ Corn Grower and Soybean Grower associations helped pick and husk sweet corn for the corn boil.

“It really was a bunch of local farmers, along with my family and employees getting together to help make Corn Fest possible,” Wessels said.

Butts said that it is Corn Fest’s volunteers that make DeKalb’s largest festival possible one weekend a year.

“We have more than 300 volunteers, and we would not be able to do this festival without them,” she said. “They make Corn Fest possible.”

Shawn Lowe, a Corn Fest co-chair and sound stage director, described the event as “a little bit of everything for every age.”

“If you’ve never been out to Corn Fest, come out, walk around and check it out,” Lowe said. “There’s a lots of things to do and a lot of fun to be had.”

For information about Corn Fest, visit www.cornfest.com or call 815-748-CORN.

This article has been edited to convey that there is no auto or historical bus tours during this year’s Corn Fest.