The town of Shippensburg gathered on King Street on the last Saturday in August for the 42nd annual Corn Festival. Craft vendors, food trucks and performers had a blast with an incredible turnout of over 25,000 people attending from 11am to 3pm. Visitors came to admire the antique car show, watch the corn eating contest and see what the over 270 exhibitors had to offer.
The Slate’s Adam Beam was one of the corn-eating competitors for this year’s contest. “I’ll admit I was nervous, since I had never done anything like that before,” Beam said. “But it was a blast. I ate 4 ears of corn and I know if they had gone the full 3 minutes, I could have gotten at least two more ears of corn.”
This year, the Corn Festival donated its profits to projects that aid in funding historic preservation or beautification of the Shippensburg community. The Corn Festival committee provided $1200 for Ship Kids Event Committee for beautification of the Gazebo, $1000 to the Ship Garden Committee to help plant flowers and $1672 to Christ Among Neighbors to help with necessities such as food and rent. The Shippensburg Corn Fest committee also has pledged $30,000 over the next 3 years towards the proposed stage at Library Square.
The 2024 Shippensburg Corn Fest will be hosted on Aug. 31, the last Saturday of the month. Look for more details about the event in the coming months.
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