Who wouldn’t like free sweet corn? Not to mention music, activities, and more. All of that can be found this weekend at the 38th annual Adel Sweet Corn Festival.

The theme for this year’s event is “Corn. Sweet,” as featured on the festival t-shirts available for sale. The festivities start Friday with the Adel-DeSoto-Minburn alumni golf tournament, which has tee times at 7:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. At 5:30 p.m., several people will come out for the annual tradition of shucking the corn. Macinzie McFarland, who serves on the Adel Chamber Partners Board, explains, “It’s a volunteer event that many people kind of have made into a family tradition. People are there to get the corn ready for the next day. Adel Partners purchases six-and-a-half tons of corn to give out for free the next day. Corner Tap provides beer, and Culligan’s provides water.”

The last event on Friday will be the Sweet Corn Festival Princess contest, which will take place on the Adel stage at 6 p.m. McFarland says the contest is for girls in the ADM schools who are in 2nd-4th grades. The bulk of the festivities will happen on Saturday, starting with the 5K fun run at 8 a.m. The parade will start at 9:30, taking off from 18th and Prairie streets. McFarland says it’s one of the biggest parades she’s seen. Following the parade, people can start getting their free sweet corn. It will be available until all 6.5 tons are gone.

Other events throughout the day include tournaments, games, music, and a car and semi show. The day will conclude with a 21-and-over concert of “The Sons of Gladys Kravitz” at 6 p.m. There is a $5 entry fee for the concert. Additionally, Raccoon Valley Radio’s Big Red Radio will be broadcasting live from the Sweet Corn Festival from 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. Saturday. We will give live reports on air, play music, and relay important information. We will also be there Friday for the corn shucking, playing music.

To learn more about the Adel Sweet Corn Festival, listen to Wednesday’s Perry Fareway Let’s Talk Dallas County program at RaccoonValleyRadio.com.