Crafts, fair food, entertainment and all the corn imaginable will fill King Street on Saturday, as the Shippensburg Corn Festival returns.
The event typically garners thousands of visitors, who stroll down King Street in search of the perfect craft — or cob of corn.
The festival was created by the Shippensburg Heritage and Recreation Planning Society (SHARP) to promote awareness and preserve the town’s rich heritage and architectural legacy, according to its website.
SHARP members Ruth Friedline and Rose Dillner’s idea developed into a festival focusing on the area’s largest crop, corn, according to the website.
Over 200 craft vendors, a wide variety of food and a lineup of dancers, an antique car show and bands and demonstrations will fill King Street.
The festival, which is always held the last Saturday in August, typically falls at the end of Fall Welcome Week before classes begin.
However, this year the festival will take place Labor Day Weekend, after the completions of Shippensburg University students’ first week of classes.
Returning again this year, is the popular “Corn Eating Contest,” where contestants attempt to eat as many cobs of corn as possible in three minutes. The contest will take place at the Main Stage near King and Earl Street during the middle of the “MidLife Cowboys” performance which begins at 11:45 a.m. according to the festival’s website.
The 39th Annual Shippensburg Corn Festival will be held Saturday, August 31 from 8 a.m. – 4 p.m. in downtown Shippensburg. Admission is free and the event is held rain or shine. For more information about the festival, visit shippensburgcornfestival.net.
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