Festival goers stroll through the Midway at the Sweet Corn Festival in downtown Mendota. A wide variety of activities helped attract large crowds to the four-day event. (Reporter photo by Jennifer Sommer)

MENDOTA – What is the secret to the success of Mendota’s Sweet Corn Festival? After 71 years, the annual celebration has grown larger than ever and Jesse Arellano, Chamber of Commerce executive director, believes it is due to community pride and the number of volunteers who willingly pitch in year after year.

“It’s always amazing to see how many people from the community just want to come out and help,” Arellano said. “All you have to do is ask and everybody comes running, willing to do whatever we need. We have no problem getting volunteers.”

New attractions are another important part in keeping the festival attractive to visitors, Arellano said. One of the newer features, A Special Afternoon for Special Kids, kicked off this year’s festival on Thursday afternoon. The two-hour event was designed for children with special needs and their immediate family. During that time, rides were free for the kids and one family member. Meanwhile, costumed characters roamed through the Midway visiting with everyone and the Chamber also provided free ice cream treats, which were left over from Mendota’s July 4th celebration.

Arellano said this year about 70 families signed up for the Special Afternoon, so the Chamber plans to continue the event in the coming years. “It’s not that much more work for us but even if it was, I think everybody likes it and it’s a way to give back to the community,” he said.

This year’s carnival, Windy City Amusements of St. Charles, also returned for the second year. The carnival featured 21 brightly lit, colorful rides and offered armband specials each day as well as Mega Passes sold prior to the festival, which allowed purchasers to have unlimited rides throughout the entire four days. Arellano said they sold 579 Mega Passes this year compared to 420 last year. “It was a big improvement and hopefully people see the benefit of having it,” he noted. “And it helps keep the carnival busy all the time, not just during armband hours.”

One of the brand new events this year was an Art Show and Sale sponsored by NCI Artworks and held at Setchell Studios on Washington Street. Arellano said there are so many talented people from Mendota and the surrounding area that it was nice to be able to showcase their work during the festival. “And I think people appreciated having something to do to get out of the heat,” he noted. “NCI Artworks did a really good job and we plan to expand the show next year because some local artists may not have known about it in time and we would like to have more local talent from Mendota.”

At the other end of the spectrum, the festival’s longstanding tradition of crowning a Sweet Corn Festival Queen took place on Friday evening. Chosen as the 2018 Sweet Corn Festival Queen was Payton Klatt, daughter of Jay and Wendy Klatt. She was sponsored by Mendota Community Theatre.

This year’s attendants were Celi Brandy Delao, daughter of Salvidor Delao and Celi Arteaga, and Amy Lewis, daughter of Kevin and Kelly Lewis. Delao was sponsored by the Mendota Booster Club and Lewis was sponsored by Mendota Moose Lodge #714.

Chosen as Miss Congeniality for 2018 was Marie Barnickel, daughter of Gale and Christine Barnickel. She was sponsored by the Mendota Rotary Club.

On Saturday morning, it was time for the younger set to take the stage for the annual Mini King and Mini Queen Pageant. This year, 12 young contestants gathered on the main stage and answered questions from first time emcee Savannah Wade. Selected as the 2018 Mini Queen was Macy Mahaffey and Mini King was Kayne Schneider. Macy is the daughter of Jason and Megan MaHaffey and Kayne is the son of Teague Ugland and Taylor Schneider.

Another tradition, Sunday afternoon’s grand parade, stepped off at 1 p.m. led by Mendota Police Chief Tom Smith, this year’s parade grand marshal. Smith, who will retire next February after serving as Mendota’s Police Chief for 21 years, was selected as grand marshal in honor of his years of service to the community and for helping to build an outstanding police department to serve the citizens of Mendota.

The 2018 parade winners included Performance Units: 1^st Place – De Colores Dance Group, Mendota & Les Plateros Dance Group, Zacatecas, Mexico, 2^nd Place – Mendota V.F.W. Memorial Squad, 3^rd Place – Mendota High School 2018-19 Football & Basketball Cheerleaders.

In the Commercial Division, 1^st Place – GES Gary Swanson Sound & Generics Goodies Band, Princeton, 2^nd Place – Del Monte Foods Float, 3^rd Place – First State Bank Hot Air Balloon Unit.

Organization Division prizes went to 1^st Place - Woodhaven Lakes Goodtimers Lawn Chair Dance Team, Woodhaven Lakes, Sublette, 2^nd Place – Mendota Museum & Historical Society, 3^rd Place – Mendota Little League Softball Team.

The Friendship Division 1^st Place - Village of Sublette.

In the Antique Vehicles Division, 1^st Place – 1942 Ford Fire Truck from the Compton Fire Department, 2^nd Place – 1936 Ford 1 ½ ton Truck – Carl Kittleson/Funfsinn Family, Mendota, 3^rd Place – 1930 Model A Ford Deluxe Coupe with rumble seat – John & Becky Kehoe, Mendota.

Winner in the Classic Vehicles Division was, 1st Place – 1966 Studebaker Cruiser, owed by Barbara Althaus of Wisconsin.

In the Antique Farm Implements Division, 1^st Place – 1953 Chase SC-3 owned by Chad Hamrick of Spring Valley, 2^nd Place – 1907 Mendota Manufacturing & Transfer Tank Wagon owned by Harry Schaller Jr., formerly of LaMoille, 3^rd Place – 1969 Case 220 owed by Paul Hamrick of Spring Valley.

Trophy winner for Best Use of a Sweet Corn Theme was Mendota Little League Softball, Grand Marshal’s Trophy went to Mendota High School’s 2018-19 Football and Basketball Cheerleaders, and the Queen’s Choice was the Mendota High School Marching Trojans.

Reflecting on the four days of the 2018 festival, Arellano said he could not recall a single thing that went wrong or anything they had to hurry and fix. For him, one of the most exciting changes this year was the growth of the 50/50 drawing. The Chamber’s original goal was to double last year’s sales, which would have been about $32,000. “But we nearly doubled that,” he said of this year’s $60,451.50 in sales. “It’s been very exciting.”

Winning the $30,225.50 prize was Lauri Chamberlain of Bloomington. Arellano explained that many of the Chamber’s board members and past presidents over the years had a goal to expand the 50/50. During the last 10 years, they hoped to get the drawing to at least $10,000. “So many people worked every year to get it there and now it’s doing what originally was planned,” he said. “It’s feedback from every single year . . . and we incorporated those ideas and it finally worked. Now, we’re right where we want to be and hopefully, next year it will continue to grow and bring more visitors . . . it’s very nice to see that it’s actually happening now.”

The Chamber plans to use proceeds from the 50/50 to improve the community and the downtown area. “We’re trying to bring tourism to town and to help the community by bringing more people to shop here and hopefully attract some businesses when they see the town looks nice,” Arellano noted. “We also talked about getting new Christmas decorations and we’re waiting for a final design for new ‘Welcome to Mendota’ signs because it’s time to replace them.”

Due to very hot weather over the weekend, overall crowd size was down a bit this year according to the Mendota Police Department but still good. Arellano said the craft show and the midway had more vendors this year and they were pleased with sales. “The vendors said it was really busy but that it was unusual because they were busier on Saturday than Sunday,” he noted. “It’s usually the opposite.”

Vendors also told Arellano that many of the other shows they go to are struggling and one vendor noted that five of the fairs and carnivals they go to canceled this year either because they did not have the funding or did not have good attendance. “After so many years, some shows fall off,” he pointed out. “One vendor told us that it would be nice for those shows to ask us what we’re doing because our festival is successful every year and getting bigger. It’s kind of unusual that after 70 years, instead of doing a nosedive, we’re going the other direction. I think that’s one of the things that everybody that’s been involved is really proud of.”

Again, it all comes back to the volunteers and the community. “Our volunteers come back year after year and have fun with it,” Arellano said with a smile. “It’s a sense of community pride that everyone comes together to make it happen. It’s nice to know we have so many volunteers - a lot of places don’t have that luxury. It’s definitely a Mendota thing.”