Corn Festival

Finally a cool morning with heavy dew on the spider webs.

Dewy spider web

The first thing I did this morning was go out to take pictures of a large bald-faced hornet nest that Terry discovered in the birch forest. After getting stung by one while washing grapes last weekend, I’ve been doing some research. The bald-faced hornet is not a hornet, but a member of the yellowjacket family, even though it is black and white (“bald” is short for “piebald”). It is a wasp, not a hornet. All my life, I thought that these big paper-like nests were made by paper wasps, but paper wasps build small, open combs. Who knew?

Bald-faced hornet nest

Hornet coming out of the nest

Usually one sees these nests high in the trees. This one is surprisingly close to the ground. I would have thought some brave and enterprising raccoon would have ripped it open to get at the larva.

The nest is only a foot or so off the ground

In previous summers, we have always had yellowjackets in abundance. I haven’t seen so many this year since the bald-faced hornets moved in. Makes me wonder about ecology stuff. Terry says he’s seen yellowjackets this year. He’s also going to get rid of the bald-faced hornet nest some cold night soon when he’s not so tired that he can’t run fast. (This is why he’s not doing it today—too exhausted from painting the deck.) And good luck to him, I say.

Last night we piled the whole family in the car to go to the Corn Festival in Darien for the first time. It had been too hot to go to the McHenry County Fair this summer. I hadn’t had my corndog yet.

Terry and I walked to the farthest part of the Festival—probably 100 yards from the entrance—where we found the beer tent. Miller products! Yeah, baby! None of that Bud Lite swill. He ordered while I walked over to the Giant Corn Cob. The Giant Corn Cob lives by the highway. I have admired it often. It is made of milk jugs! How awesome is that? The kernels are even dented!

Corn Festival Sign and Giant Corn Cob

Milk jugs! What a great idea!

When I joined Terry, he was forking over $6 for two souvenir beer cozies. He thought they were overpriced, but they would keep the beer cold. “Can we walk around with the beer?” I asked.

Souvenir beer cozies

Terry turned to ask the woman who sold him the beer, but she was busy. He asked the guy standing next to us instead. “Sure!” he said. “I’ve been doing it for years, and no one has ever stopped me.”

As a point of reference, the entrance/exit of the beer tent at the McHenry County Fair is guarded by cops who will definitely stop you if you try to leave with your beer.

Meanwhile, Mom and Dad had taken a walk through the World’s Smallest Carnival. Terry has seen smaller carnivals; I have not.

The entire Darien Corn Festival carnival. The grain elevators in the background add a certain je ne sais quois

There were exactly three carnival food trailers. I was able to get my annual corndog, which the girl dipped in the batter and fried while we watched. It was perfect. Mom and Dad also had corndogs. Hilda went to the fry vendor to get a Bucket-O-(soggy) Fries. 

My corn dog with Hilda holding the Bucket-O-Fries in the background

The third vendor had funnel cakes and candy apples. No mini donuts. Damn. Terry went back to the beer tent to get one of the barbecue sandwiches we’d seen people eating but returned with a brat because they didn’t have the barbecues, or at least didn’t have them anymore. Did we eat every last soggy, over-salted fry? Yes, we did. Ooof.

 There were about a dozen tents for politicians, t-shirts, and cheap plastic crap. They were closing up as we got there at 5:45. Usually festivals are just gearing up at that time. Not in Darien, I guess.

The ice cream tent was packing up just as we got there for our dessert. They graciously scooped our cones out of the back of their truck. As we ate the cone, we chatted with the woman who, with her husband and kids, now owns and operates the little ice cream store in town. She told us a lot of people from Crystal Lake come up for the Festival. I can only wonder why. We also learned that there is actual corn at the Corn Festival. From 11:00 to 3:00, the Fire Department roasts corn for everyone. Seems awfully late for sweet corn. I expect it's probably pretty mature by September.

“How does that work?” I asked. “Is it a free-for-all?”

“No”, the woman replied, “you have to stand in a line that goes back and forth, and each person can get two. It used to be a free-for-all and you could take as much as you wanted. But the people in back didn’t get any, so they changed it.”

She invited us to return on Sunday for the parade at 1:00. I bet they take the Giant Corn Cob out for a spin. Not sure what else they've got. Not that curious, really.

And we went home. Now we can say we’ve been. We could go back next year for the corn. Or not. After all, there weren’t any mini donuts.