Aumsville prepares its annual corn festival for the bigger time

AUMSVILLE – A summer festival can mean a lot to a small town.

Some gatherings – such as the Mt. Angel Oktoberfest, the Sublimity Harvest Festival and the St. Paul Rodeo – have grown to annual events that bring a large influx of people into town for a few days each summer and shape a community’s identity.

For 50 years, the Aumsville Corn Festival drew from a limited base of a demographics of people around Aumsville, but missed wide swaths of people from throughout the rest of the Willamette Valley.

People in nearby towns didn’t know it existed.

The festival foundation’s entirely new board isn’t trying to reinvent the festival but is making steps towards making the August 17 and 18 gathering relevant to a larger audience with new attractions like a beer garden and live music.

“I think this year is going to be the year that shows everyone what the corn fest could end up being,” Aumsville mayor Derek Clevenger said.

Turning a corn festival into something more

News that the entire board of the Corn Festival Foundation resigned late last year was published in the city newsletter, and without volunteers, the festival was going to be discontinued.

Among those to step forward were Walter Wick and Ed Blakesley.

For much of the festival’s history it was a one-day gathering centered around a city park with typical attractions: a parade, a three-legged race, and the firefighter’s pancake breakfast.

But after the free ears of cooked corn were handed out to each person – sometimes after an hour-long line in a hot parking lot – those in attendance left by early in the afternoon.

“It was a picnic in the park,” said Blakesley, the new festival president.  

The board of directors decided to give  the Aumsville Corn Festivala shot of life.

One of the first undertakings of the new board was to devise attractions that would resonate with a new audience, such as bringing in bands to perform live music, a car show and a barbecue contest.

To do so, the festival was expanded from its previous home of Porter-Boone Park to also include Mill Creek Park. And the festival is extended to two days for the first time.

But one new idea took more work.

A beer garden as part of the festival had been floated for years without gaining much traction.

Aumsville has an ordinance prohibiting alcohol consumption in the city’s parks. The city council in April voted to support the beer garden and in July approved the variance to the ordinance that will allow alcohol for the two-day festival at Mill Creek Park.

“Even just getting the beer garden was a huge hurdle,” Clevenger said. “The way the community reacted to it shows that it’s something that they’ve wanted for a long time.”

How festivals can become a city’s identity

In similar smaller communities around Marion County – such as Mt. Angel, Sublimity and St. Paul – the summer festivals bring an influx of thousands of people for a few days each summer.

The Mt. Angel Oktoberfest has become a major part of the identity of that city, so much so it has become the defining style of architecture of the buildings in the city core.

But there are not a lot of tourist attractions in Aumsville.

Outside of the corn festival, the largest community gathering each year is the Christmas Tree lighting.

“There is nothing in Aumsville right now that gets people off of (Highway) 22 and into Aumsville,” Clevenger said. “Maybe they’ve heard of the Pizza Peddler, maybe they’ve gone to the skate park. 

“That’s why people know what Mt. Angel is, is because of Oktoberfest.”

Raising funds for community organizations

The purpose of the gatherings such as the Aumsville Corn Festival is to provide money to the community organizations.

Visitors spend thousands of dollars at the festivals, and funds raised from vendors go to fund causes in the communities.

Aumsville wants to do more, but that will only come with the festival’s growth.

“Last year they gave away $2,000 to charity,” Blakesley said. “The purpose of it was to raise money to help. They donated to the volunteer fire department, the police department, the clothing closet, a fund to help people pay their water bill.

“If we’re going to make some money, let’s try to make some money to help people.”

bpoehler@StatesmanJournal.com or Twitter.com/bpoehler

Aumsville Corn Festival

When: August 17 and 18

Where: Porter-Boone and Mill Creek Parks.

Attractions: Youth talent show, kids games, car show, beer garden, barbecue contest, parade at 11 a.m. Saturday.

Live music: Phoenix, 1 p.m. Saturday; Gabriel Cox Band, 4:30 p.m. Saturday; Briana Renea, 7 p.m. Saturday; Joe Stoddard 11 a.m. Sunday.

Corn: Each person is given two free ears of cooked corn and will be available for purchase for 10 ears for $3.

Parking: $3 per car.