Wisconsin
From free corn to corn royalty, check out these six Wisconsin corn festivals
Wisconsin State Fair Lions Club corn roast: Farm delivers it fresh
Poulson’s Farm delivers hand-picked, very fresh corn to the New Berlin Lions corn roast at Wisconsin State Fair
Lori Nickel, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
From cobs to kernels and sweet to spicy, you’ll likely find a corn stand at most summer festivals across Wisconsin.
But if you’re looking for a more full-fledged celebration of one of Wisconsin’s top crops, several corn festivals are coming up across the state in the next few weeks.
Jerry Smith Farm’s Sweet Corn Fest
Kick off your tour of Wisconsin corn festivals this weekend at Jerry Smith Farm’s Sweet Corn Fest. The family-owned farm in Kenosha will host its annual festival from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Aug. 10 and 11.
Along with plenty of home-grown sweet corn, the festival will feature live music, food, drink and local vendors. Find a full line-up of vendors and performances here.
Admission is free, and Jerry Smith Farm is at 7150 18th St., Kenosha, WI 53144.
Cobb Corn Roast
For a weeklong celebration topped off with free ears of sweet corn, visit the Cobb Corn Roast Celebration from Aug. 6-11. The 66th annual festival will feature a ball park concessions, a Texas Hold ‘Em tournament, water fights, inflatable rides and multiple nights of live music — and corn, of course.
If you’ve got only one day to spare, make sure to check out the last day of the festival on Sunday, Aug. 11. Free face painting for kids will run from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., along with a chicken BBQ at 11 a.m., all followed by a 2 p.m. parade and live music through the afternoon. The festival will also give away free sweet corn by the ear.
Check out the festival website for a full schedule. The celebration will take place all week long at Scheper Park, 109 Gard Way, Cobb, WI 53526.
Sun Prairie Sweet Corn Festival
Wisconsin’s largest corn festival is just over a week away. The Sun Prairie Sweet Corn Festival runs from Aug. 14-18 with more than 80 tons of Wisconsin-grown sweet corn, according to its website.
Though the festival runs for five days, steamed corn will only be served on Saturday, Aug. 17 and Sunday, Aug. 18. On those days, you can purchase cooked sweet corn from 12 to 7 p.m. (until supplies last) or uncooked corn for $10 per grocery bag.
But don’t count out the other festival days: non-corn festivities include a parade, carnival night, food vendors, a beer shelter and live music. Check out the full schedule here. All festivities will be at Angell Park, at 200 Park St., Sun Prairie, WI 53590 with paid parking onsite.
Corn and Tater Festival
For corn with a side of potatoes, check out the Corn and Tater Festival in Grand Marsh. The annual event — which boasts the status of the largest, one-day festival in Adams County — will run from 11 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. on Aug. 17.
The food line-up includes brats, hot dogs, and a roast beef sandwich with unlimited corn and potato on the side. You can also enjoy live music from the afternoon to the evening, a basket raffle, pan poker and a bouncy house and obstacle course. Check out the full schedule here.
Admission is free. The festival is at Grand Marsh Lions Park, at 620 County Road East, Grand Marsh, WI 53936.
Loyal Corn
For perhaps the best all-you-can-eat corn deal in the state, check out Loyal Corn Fest in from Aug. 22-25 in Loyal. For $3, the festival offers all-you-can-eat sweet corn and an official Corn Fest button on Saturday, Aug. 24 and Sunday, Aug. 25. Corn will be served starting at 12 p.m. until supplies last.
The festival is a citywide affair, with garage sales throughout the weekend, a coronation and parade of local children as “Corn Fest Royalty” and free live music. Find the full schedule here.
Some events are free and others require an admission fee. Corn Fest is at various locations throughout the city, but the main festival will be at American Legion, at 302 N. Union St., Loyal, WI 54446.
Darien CornFest
For more helpings of free corn, check out Darien CornFest from Sept. 6-8 in Darien. You can grab free sweet corn from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 7 and Sunday, Sept. 8.
The three-day festival will also be bookended by fireworks at 9 p.m. Friday and a downtown parade at 12 p.m. Sunday. Carnival rides will be up throughout the festival, with a $25 wristband available to access rides on all three days. Check out the full schedule here.
The festival is at Darien West Park, at 335 W. Madison St., Darien, WI 53114.
More: These are the 2024 Wisconsin State Fair Sporkies and Drinkies winners
Laurel Burleson, a Dane County chef, thinks ugly apples make the best dishes.
One of her goals as a chef and restaurant owner is to save usable produce from the waste bin.
“I know how hard (Wisconsin farmers) work every day, making these products that are delicious and nutritious and for anything to get thrown away just because it’s not aesthetically perfect is just outrageous,” said Burleson, owner of Ugly Apple Cafe.
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The latest fruit monitoring report from the University of Wisconsin-Madison shows many parts of the state having great harvests, although northeastern Wisconsin orchards suffered from a cool spring. But most apple orchards are busy with the fall harvest. So what do you do with that abundance of apples?
Burleson shared some recipes and her philosophy on cooking with WPR’s “Wisconsin Today.”
This conversation has been edited for brevity and clarity.
Rob Ferrett: What do you like to do with apples apart from just eating them?
Laurel Burleson: One that I really like to do is making apple marmalade. That is shredding apples and preserving them in sugar so that they keep their structure. It’s kind of the opposite of making applesauce.
But we also make a lot of apple sauce and apple butter. That’s a good way to use a lot of apples all at once.
RF: What goes into making apple butter?
LB: Very basically you make applesauce, so just cook down your apples and blend them up. Then you take that applesauce and cook it extremely slowly, either in a slow cooker or in the oven. Cook it down until it’s dark and rich and more closely resembling a peanut butter than applesauce.
From there, you can put in whatever spices you want: cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, bay leaf. You just have to be careful because whatever you start with in the big batch will get super concentrated and reduced in your end product.
RF: With applesauce or apple butter, do we have to be fussy about the type of apples? Or can we mix and match?
LB: I like to mix and match, especially because the apple season starts really early. Some years you can get the first season apples in July.
They don’t hold very long and they’re very juicy, so they break down really easily, but they are very tart. I like to get some of those early season apples and make them into applesauce and freeze them and then when I have other sweeter varieties later I mix them and then reduce that all down into butter.
RF: You shared a savory recipe with us for pork chops with apple bacon cabbage. Tell us a little bit about this recipe.
LB: It’s really fun for the fall and even into the winter. You can kind of use any kind of variety of apple that’s a little bit tart and it’s OK if it breaks down and blends in because the cabbage is going to maintain its structure.
If the onions and apples melt away into a delicious sauce it’s just fine. But also, if you end up with some apple pieces, then it’s a nice little surprise like a little sweetness.
The Ugly Apple Cafe operates cafes inside the Dane County Courthouse and the City County Building in Madison and sells its products at the Monona Farmers Market.
While the Wisconsin Badgers struggle on the football field, sitting at a disappointing 2-2 through four weeks, some of the program’s former transfers continue to find success.
One of those players is tight end Riley Nowakowski, who transferred to Indiana this offseason after five years with the Badgers. The Milwaukee, Wisconsin, native originally walked on to the program as an unranked outside linebacker. After playing sparingly during his first few seasons with the Badgers, he flipped over to fullback in 2022, then out to tight end after Phil Longo arrived in 2023. Nowakowski totaled 18 receptions for 131 yards and a touchdown from 2023-24; his two years as a primary offensive contributor.
The former Badger is already making significant progress toward those totals, now just four games into his Indiana career. He has four catches for 72 yards and a touchdown, plus one carry for a one-yard score. The versatile fullback/tight end delivered the highlight play of his career during Indiana’s blowout win over Illinois on Saturday, taking a 1st-down screen pass 43 yards to the house.
Wisconsin, meanwhile, has received solid contributions from Montana State transfer tight end Lance Mason. The veteran has 14 catches for 177 yards and two touchdowns to date, leading the team in each of those respective categories.
While Mason has been one of the Badgers’ few bright spots through four weeks, it’s hard to ignore Nowakowski’s emergence as one of Indiana’s dependable offensive playmakers.
Contact/Follow @TheBadgersWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Wisconsin Badgers news, notes and opinion
Get ready for an overall warmer stretch of weather as we head into this upcoming workweek. After some fog lifts this morning, we’ll have plenty of sunshine today with highs in the mid to upper 70s along the lake and low 80s inland.
Tonight will be dry with lows in the low 60s lakeside and upper 50s inland.
Monday through Wednesday should be very similar, with upper 70s to near 80 near the lake and low to mid 80s inland with plenty of sun.
We’ll start to bring in chances of showers or a T’storm starting Thursday right on into the weekend.
WATCH: Southeast Wisconsin weather: Dry Today, Warm Workweek Ahead
Southeast Wisconsin weather: Dry Today, Warm Workweek Ahead
TODAY: Any fog lifting through the morning, then becoming mostly sunny.
High: 77 lakefront… 83 inland.
Wind: E 5-10 MPH.
TONIGHT: Mostly clear.
Low: 62.
Wind: ESE 3-8 MPH.
MONDAY: Mostly sunny.
Highs: 78 lakefront… 83 inland.
Wind: ESE 5-10 MPH.
TUES: Mostly sunny and warm.
High: 80 lakefront… 84 inland.
WEDS: Mostly sunny and warm.
High: 81 lakefront… 85 inland.
THUR: Partly cloudy with a chance of a shower
or T’storm.
High: 80.
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