LIME SPRINGS - Offering free food, free activities for the kids and night after night of great live music, plus dozens of other events, the Lime Springs Sweet Corn Days is expected to draw hundreds for the community’s 44th annual festival.
Lime Springs Community Club officials who spearhead the festival say there’s something for everyone at the three-day family-oriented event that begins on Friday, Aug. 8 and concludes Sunday, Aug. 10.
Overall chairman Jami Schwickerath says the town of 500 could multiply by four to 2,000 at certain times over the weekend if all goes well, planning to climax the festival with a free sweet corn feed that involves an estimated 1,500 ears of freshly picked sweet corn, dozens of juicy watermelons and over 700 free grilled hamburgers prepared by the Upper Iowa Beef Producers.
“People can actually eat for free,” Schwickerath said of the Sunday evening feast, noting it’s been a tradition in the community for years to celebrate the local sweet corn harvest and the proud agriculture community.
There will be traditional activities like a classic car show, antique tractor show, co-ed softball tournament, 13-mile bike ride, kid’s carnival, food stands, Lidtke Mill tours, a Saddle Club fun show, royalty events, worship service, a giant parade, trap shooting, bags tourney and free musical entertainment featuring top local bands as well as two disc-jockeys, centered around a downtown beer tent and raffle drawings.
Some of the newer events, like the worlds shortest Bloody Mary run and a pickle ball tourney, will also be part of the fun.
Schwickerath said the festival was struggling to make money when she took it over five years ago. She said the festival had become stagnant and needed help, so a younger leadership took the helms, brought in popular live bands and have continued to improve the festival curriculum with new enthusiasm while sticking with the traditions that have made the Sweet Corn Days popular for over four decades.
“It’s always been a popular festival, but it needed to change,” said Schwickerath, who brought to northwest Iowa a Las Vegas band her first year as chairman that helped turn things around. The Community Club operates the beer tent, which is the big moneymaker for the festival while also selling raffle tickets for cash drawings to help pay expenses and plan for future festivals.
Schwickerath praises the many volunteers for their work before, during and after the festival, noting it takes a lot of good leadership and dedicated chair people to make it a success.