In 1975, North Ridgeville resident John Butkowski, who has served as the festival’s president, suggested starting the North Ridgeville Corn Festival as an ongoing reminder of the American Bicentennial to be celebrated the following year.
That annual celebration has grown from a Saturday-afternoon trial run with 13 booths to a second-weekend-of-August affair that blocks off a stretch of Bainbridge Road and raises funds for scholarships and community projects. Attractions include local and regional bands, fireworks, a parade, arts-and-crafts fair and, of course, corny concessions.
Three to Try:
1: Amish-style sweet corn
Butkowski insists this is no ordinary sweet corn. It is boiled in water containing a mix of top-secret ingredients picked up from the Amish that makes the ears even sweeter.
2: Street corn
Butkowski describes an ear of boiled sweet corn rolled in butter, then slathered in a mixture of mayonnaise, lime juice and spices. A dozen or so additional seasonings are available for festival-goers to shake on as they desire.
3: Grilled sweet corn
Ears are grilled in their husks on a Ferris wheel-like unit. “[Vendors] rip the husks back to give you a handle to hold the corn,” Butkowski says. “The grilled corn is then dipped in butter.”
North Ridgeville Corn Festival
440-218-9802 • nrcornfest.org
