Corn Festival
What happens when you subject three college-age 'boys who wanna have fun' to a commercial about a West Virginia blueberry festival? If you guessed "a major block party along JPA called the Corn Festival," you'd be right.
You may have seen the giant Corn Festival sign hanging from the apartment building at 1901 JPA, which is deemed the festival headquarters. But what, pray tell, is a Corn Festival?
"We just wanted to have a huge block party on JPA," Corn Festival co-founder Kendall Howell said. "The idea for the name came from a commercial we saw for a blueberry festival in West Virginia, so we brainstormed other fruits and vegetables as possible names and came up with corn," he added.
What started as a casual, and somewhat fanciful, desire of Howell and his two fourth-year College student roommates Matt Kendall and Bartley McGowan for all of JPA to erupt in wild party has, well, turned into just that.
"It's gotten out of hand," Howell said. "We've received over 300 emails about it since we put the sign up" just for kicks three weeks ago, he added. The sign advertises an email address for the festival at cornfestival@hotmail.com.
The party will take place Nov. 11, and will not be limited to the activities at headquarters. Other residents have planned their own parties in the Corn Festival spirit, and many more are urged to have their own stints as well, making it an extended block party along the entire road.
A game of whiffle ball will kick off the event at headquarters at noon, followed by a Corn Queen Lady of the Harvest Beauty Pageant at 4 p.m., a Corn on the Cob eat-off at 6 p.m. and bands will begin playing at 8 p.m.
Although Corn Festival funding has come mostly from friends of the co-sponsors, Howell speculates they unfortunately will end up footing most of the bill.
Compiled by Ryann Collins
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