Organizers are gearing up for the 2019 El Paso Corn Festival. We’ve put together this handy guide to the festival so you can easily make plans for these three days of fun, food, and festivities!
‘National Lampoon’s El Paso Vacation’
This year’s El Paso Corn Festival, which runs from Sept. 5-7, has the theme of “National Lampoon’s El Paso Vacation.” So if you’re going to have a tent in Library Park during the festivities as a vendor or for a community group, business, or church, now’s the time to start brainstorming how you want to decorate your tent. Christmas decorations? An old beat-up station wagon parked nearby? How about Cousin Eddie’s grill? Whatever you decide, have fun with it!
Three Days of Fun
The festival features the Wilson Family Shows carnival, entertainment in Library Park, and the big parade at noon on Saturday.
Everyone always wants to know about armbands for the carnival because it’s the only way to go. You can get armbands for your kids all three days. Presale armbands for Thursday and Friday nights from 6-10 p.m. will be for sale for $20 before the festival at both Heartland Bank locations, Flanagan Bank, City Hall, Bushert’s General Store, and Nails by Karen. Armbands for Saturday rides from 3-8 p.m. will be $25, available only at the carnival.
Festivities
Entertainment for the festival will include several bands: She Said So and Recycle the Day will perform Friday at 5:30 and 7 p.m., and the Saturday bands will be the Captain Ron Band at 4 p.m. and Billy Blackjack at 7 p.m. Also, big community events are the Mini King & Queen Contest at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, the El Paso-Gridley Show Choirs at 7 p.m. on Thursday, and a fun community game show at 2 p.m. on Saturday. You’ll also want to dine at the Community Well Fried Chicken Dinner from 5-7 p.m. on Saturday.
Other festival events are the Library Book Sale all three days, the Big Wheel Races and the Firemen Pork Tenderloin Meal on Thursday, the Kiddie Tractor Pull and the Kiwanis Spaghetti Supper on Friday, and breakfast at the Masonic Lodge and the Dupont Walk Saturday morning.
Corn Festival Parade
The Corn Festival Parade is always a great event, with more than 100 entries every year. We see local businesses, school groups, bands, and churches out there, along with antique vehicles, tractors, and more.
Floats line up for the noon parade at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Unit 11 District Office. The parade will begin at noon at the corner of Fifth and Walnut streets, turning south on Sycamore Street, east on First Street, north on Cherry Street, and finally, west on Fifth Street to end at El Paso-Gridley High School. Parade organizers have asked that people on floats save enough candy to last for the entire parade route so kids at the end don’t get shorted.
Sunday is being planned as a festive cleanup day, and residents have been invited to show up at 7:30 a.m. to compete to see who can clean up the most (or heaviest) trash. Keep up with the El Paso Corn Festival website for additional event details and updates. Vendors are not yet listed, but we hope there will be corn!
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