Festival goers dodged raindrops throughout the afternoon, but nothing enough to deter them from feasting on the 77,000 ears of boiled and roasted corn, according to Ruth Dodge, vendor coordinator.
Along with the abundance of corn, 130 arts and craft vendors and 28 food vendors were scattered across the grounds.
 Barton Glasser / Daily Press Frank Garduno, 13, of Delta eats all the sweet corn he can handle at the Olathe Sweet Corn Festival in Olathe Saturday afternoon. Advertisement |
Laura Borkovec from Dillon Colo., was named the winner after consuming 14 ears. Salina Ritchie, from Grand Junction, and Lory Nasalroed from Denver, both put down 13 ears, tying for second place.
Olathe's own, Tiny Parker, won first place in the men's competition. He chomped on 21 pieces of corn complete with his own squirt bottle of butter, beating Weston Ritchie, from Grand Junction, by only one ear of corn.
First place winners were presented with a $100 cash prize.
Parker, who is no stranger to the festival's corn eating contest, said he's not in it for the prize.
"It's not about the money, it's about not having to wait in line for the corn," he joked.
But corn wasn't the only popular thing throughout the morning, afternoon and evening. Saturday's festivities kicked off with the Field of Dreams 5K walk/run at 7:30 a.m., followed by the Bank of Colorado pancake breakfast. At 9 a.m., crowds gathered on the streets of Olathe for the traditional festival parade, during which time the festival gates opened.
The Western Slope Karaoke Competition, which began at 10 a.m., gave singers the opportunity to show off their vocal talent.
Close to 60 people sang in the karaoke competition, but only 11 made it to the final stage.
"I just love to sing," finalist Sierra McFarland said. McFarland, 23, from Delta, participated in the competition when she was 12, and decided to give it another shot this year. "I figured since I had the opportunity, because there's not many opportunities around here."
Curtis Snyder, 35, from Rangely, also participated in the first round of competition. Although he was in it to win, he expressed appreciation for his fellow competitors.
"My heart goes up to them, it's tough to get up there," Snyder said.
A woman that went by the name Solo Kelly, from Carbondale, made it to the finals as well, where she performed a Shania Twain song. Kelly explained that she loves performing at other festivals and karaoke competitions, and she doesn't mind traveling to do so.
"It keeps me humble. God gave me the gift to sing, and I cherish it," Kelly said.
Priscilla Flucher, of Bango Texas, won first place in the final competition, and was awarded $100 dollars. Seth Washburn from Glenwood Springs, won second and was given $50 dollars, and Kayla Casey, from Grand Junction, came in third place and won $25 dollars.
Without the help of dozens of volunteers, the Sweet Corn Festival would be hard to pull off, Dodge said.
"There's a lot of jobs to do here that people just don't realize," she said. Volunteers helped out at the ticket booth, the parking lots, and the cooking of the corn. Security, and paramedic departments also volunteered their time, as well as set-up crews.
Just one day of corn celebrating yields an entire year of planning, Dodge explained. As soon as next week, organizers will begin the initial planning stages for next year's corn festival.
Dodge said the Sweet Corn Festival has grown tremendously since the very first celebration 16 years ago, which was held on the Olathe High School football field.
Reserved tickets for this year's concert featuring country star Leann Rimes, went on sale April 2, and those 900 tickets were sold out by May 25. Dodge suspects the quick sell-out was because of the festival's ability to accept credit cards this year.
"We took a lot of ticket orders over the phone this year, which was something we've never done before in the past," Dodge said.
Although the celebration centers around a community tradition, the festival isn't just for the residents of Olathe, or even Western Slopers for that matter. Handfuls of people travel from out of state, and some even come from different countries, Dodge said.
"Last year we had a guy from Russia here," Dodge said. "He had heard about it before he came, and I'm sure he didn't come just for the festival, but he did come."
Sunday morning brings the task of cleaning up trash and breaking down tents and chairs. Dodge said with the amount of volunteers, clean-up should be complete by 10 a.m.
This year's Olathe Sweet Corn Festival was just another example of the small towns tradition, that intends to be carried on for years to come.
"It's such a community thing," Dodge said. "It really brings us all together."
Contact Marissa Brunner via e-mail at marissab@montrosepress.com
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