Aumsville Corn Festival

The hot corn station at Porter-Boone Park, 1105 Main Street, is run by volunteers who shuck the ears and serve them free to festival-goers. In 2021 that meant two hot ears apiece. The Aumsville Corn Festival runs one Saturday in August from noon to 6 p.m., and admission is free. The 2026 festival, the 58th annual, fell on August 15 under the theme “COB WARS: The Corn Awakens.” Corn to take home is sold by the bag at Maude’s, at the same address, from 9 a.m. until it runs out. In 2021 a bag held 12 ears and cost $4.

Hot corn at Porter-Boone Park

The festival grounds are outdoors with limited shade. Food vendors in 2026 included Adam’s Rib Smokehouse, Dreamer Smoked Salmon, Eli’s Tex-Mex, Suzy’s Taqueria, The Corndog Company, Trails End Kettle Corn, Pucker Up Lemonade and the Stayton Moose Lodge #2639. Craft tables included Three Sisters Crochet & Creations, Namaste Nepal, Tidal Treasures and Not Your Momma’s Tie Dye. Aunt Toni’s Face Painting, Barnyard Balloons, a Kids Outdoor Zone from Bethel Baptist, Marion County Fire District 1 and Oregon State University’s Marion County Extension took spaces among them. Stop N Save sponsored pony rides, two other sponsors paid for free tote bags, and Pacific Power sponsored the parking, which is free. The Rock N’ Roll Cowboys, a returning band, played. The Corn Festival Princesses, the festival’s royal court, appear among the day’s listed activities.

At 1 p.m. family games begin in the field past the playground, with cash prizes for the top three finishers. The corn eating contest starts at 4 p.m., and the keg toss follows immediately after it.

The day starts well before noon. Aumsville Fire serves a pancake breakfast from 7 to 11 a.m. at the station, 490 Church Street. In 2026 a plate cost $10 for ages 13 to 59 and was free for children 5 and under, with the money going to the Aumsville Fire District Volunteer Association. Garage sales open across town at their own hours. The parade steps off at 11 a.m. from Bethel Baptist Church, 645 Cleveland Street. According to the city, people head to the park as soon as it ends, typically about 11:30.

Thursday through Friday night

The festival is a Saturday, but the city schedules several days of lead-up events. In 2026, Rollin to Corn Fest came on Thursday. Friday began at 9 a.m. at Maude’s, where volunteers bagged corn for Saturday’s sales. At 4 p.m. classic cars gathered at the fire station for the department’s second annual Cruz In, with a requested $20 entry donation. From 5:30 to 11 p.m. Music on Main filled G3, 325 Main Street, with dancing, food and drinks. Vigilante played from 6 to 7:30 and Katrina Elizabeth from 8 to 10. Entry was free.

In the days before the 2026 festival, the city sold a themed shirt at City Hall, $20 for adults and $15 for youth sizes. Three days after the festival the leftovers were marked down to $10 and $5. The festival’s Facebook page ran numbered giveaways, each awarded to the first correct answer. The questions included the color of Mace Windu’s lightsaber, the names of Kylo Ren’s parents, the dog breed that inspired Chewbacca, and how many addresses appeared on the garage-sale list.

The page later counted more than 700 hours of volunteer time logged over the two days of the 2026 festival. Each hour earned an entry in a gift-card raffle, and fifteen names were drawn. The city distributes the money from corn sales and sponsorships among the service organizations that volunteer at the festival and at other Aumsville events.

Corn grown for the occasion

The corn is grown locally and on order. According to Our Town Santiam in 2021, the city contracts in January with a farmer to raise corn specifically for the August festival. The Oregon Heritage Commission’s minutes say only that the contract is made early in the year. The city charges no admission, so it does not count heads; it estimates attendance by the pounds of corn sold or given away.

Corn was the center of the festival from the start because, as the commission recorded in 2021, it was the primary crop in the area. Over the years crops around Aumsville diversified, but corn stayed at the center of the festival because it had been part of the community’s heritage for so long.

A corn feed in 1968

The festival began in 1968, when a group of Aumsville residents organized a corn feed at the local park. The city’s account says the name Aumsville Corn Festival was coined the following year. Our Town Santiam reports that in 1969 the organizers added a parade, sack races and other family games, and gave away hot buttered corn.

The Aumsville Historical Society has long set up displays at local events. At the 1997 Corn Festival, Lorene Mathews showed a historical display drawn from her collection. She had come to Aumsville in 1958 and begun gathering local items and taking photographs, and she later gave them to the society. For the same festival Doris Hutchins designed and built a miniature float of the old brick building on Main Street. The Rosenberg brothers had opened that building as a bank in July 1912. The city bought it in 1971 and used it as City Hall, and since 2009 it has housed the Aumsville Museum and History Center.

A drive-through year and a state designation

In 2020 the City Council turned the festival into a drive-through event. Free corn was handed to visitors, and the city added a video contest and a citywide scavenger hunt. “So even though we did not have a typical event, we did try to continue to offer the celebration to our community,” said Ron Harding, the city administrator.

On June 7, 2021, Katie Henry presented the festival to the Oregon Heritage Commission for designation as an Oregon Heritage Tradition. The designation is reserved for events more than 50 years old. The commissioners had read the application. Todd Kepple said he enjoyed its history, its detail and the themes the festival had chosen each year. Rosemary Johnson liked the year-by-year description and the festival’s interaction with visitors. Michelle Woodard was fascinated by the area’s hog history. Larry Landis asked about the 2020 celebration, and Anne LeVant Prahl said it had become a function of the city. Kimberly Moreland moved to make the designation. Matias Trejo De Dios, who had attended the festival and enjoyed its spirit, seconded the motion, and the commission approved it. According to the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department, the Corn Festival was the 26th event in the state to receive the designation. LeVant Prahl presented it to the Aumsville City Council on Aug. 9.

“The Aumsville Corn Festival preserves the agricultural heritage of the area in a time where agriculture is evolving and diversifying,” Henry said.

The festival returned in person on Aug. 20 and 21, 2021, for its 53rd year. On Friday evening the city held an adults-only Party in the Park at Mill Creek Park, with a beer and wine garden and The Pendleton Highway Band. Saturday opened with the firefighters’ breakfast of ham or sausage, eggs, pancakes, juice and coffee. The park had a hand-washing station, and masks were optional. “Now we can look back and celebrate the ability for our community to get out and experience a celebration together,” Harding said. At 11 a.m. the parade stepped off under that year’s theme: “All Dressed Up and Nowhere to Grow.”