The 25th annual Sweet Corn Fiesta will be held Sunday, April 27 at Yesteryear Village at the South Florida Fairgrounds. Hitting that quarter century mark of this event means one thing: ear after ear of locally-grown, golden goodness.
This is a festival, so there will be rides, a green market, vendors and great live music, but the star event will be that delicious sweet corn.
In fact, "ear after ear" might actually be underselling it. Mark Sodder, a member of the Sweet Corn Fiesta committee since the event began, said that at last year's event they had 1,500 crates of corn and at the end of the day they had only 150 left. Just to do the math for you, each crate holds approximately 48 ears of corn. That's over 64,000 ears of consumed, or purchased to take home, corn at last year's event.
Like last year, Tommy Holt of Twin H Farms has grown this year's supply and will bring in two full trailers. Donated by Holt, the corn will be harvested on Saturday, April 26, the day before the event, to ensure the freshest product possible.
The corn that is served at the event is boiled. Sodder said that in past year's they experimented in serving corn cooked other ways as well, including grilled, but only by boiling the corn are they able to keep pace with the demand. "As soon as it's cooked it's out the door," he said. "It takes a whole crew shucking just to keep up." Those ears served warm on a stick, wrapped in foil, with butter.
Keeping the event 'corn-centric,' expect to see shucking contests as well as amateur and professional eating contests.
The shucking contest will feature multiple divisions for children and adults. The children get five minutes to shuck as many ears as they can and the adults get eight minutes. There are prizes for the winners and competitors get to take home all the ears they've shucked.
The amateur corn eating competition is only for those ages 18 and older. If you're coming hungry and think you've got what it takes, you'll have six minutes to consume as many ears as possible. There are prizes for first, second and third place.
National Sweet Corn Eating Championship
The National Sweet Corn Eating Championship, presented by Major League Eating, will get going at 3 p.m. These consumption-driven competitors will have 12 minutes to take down as many ears of corn as possible. Miki Sudo, last year's winner, will return to defend her title and in the process go for a three-peat. Last year's win was no walk in the cornfield — she won by only a half an ear.
“Sudo is the greatest female competitive eater in the world, but the prospect of a three-peat creates enormous pressure... Just ask any fan of the Kansas City Chiefs,” said Major League Eating chair George Shea.
Other top-ranked competitive eaters slated to be at this year's event include Nick Wehry, Gideon Oji and Darrien Thomas.
Teeth and jaws will be put to the test and the kernels will most definitely flying between gulps of water and mouthfuls of corn.
With over $6,000 in total prize money at stake, things get competitive and quite frenzied. "It isn't pretty," Sodder said with a laugh.
In addition to sweet corn, the event will have plenty of barbecue, Cajun cuisine and more. Sodder will even be cooking up hot dogs for the $10 special which includes a hot dog, an ear of corn and a soda.
The Krystal River Band and the Andrew Morris Band will both be performing.
Though the Sweet Corn Fiesta is about having a good time with friends and family, Sodder said their chief focus is to get out the word about agriculture in Palm Beach County and its sweet corn in particular. Many of the growers in the county are third and fourth generation, he said.
Celebrating a quarter century this year, Sodder said the event "Continues to bring more people every year... 90% make the effort to come the year after."
Proud of what they've built, Sodder said, "If they don't have a good time, I don't understand why."
25th Annual Sweet Corn Fiesta
Where: Yesteryear Village, South Florida Fairgrounds, 9067 Southern Blvd., West Palm Beach
When: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, April 27
Cost: Adults $10, ages 6 o 12 $5, 5 and under free
Information: southfloridafair.com/events/2025/sweet-corn
Eddie Ritz is a journalist at The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach him at [email protected]. Help support our journalism. Subscribe today.