The Farmers’ Market Annual Corn Festival is a community celebration honoring the local harvest. Peak corn harvesting in Union County is the perfect time to celebrate fresh, locally grown corn. Over 548 local residents and visitors attended this fun event.
To celebrate the harvest, Chef Zach had two corn dishes and was ably assisted by UCHS Culinary Arts student Daniel Shepard and Seth Welch, and graduate student Kinsey Wood. A simple but delicious sample of Roasted Corn Salsa was available to taste. And the chefs were making authentic Mexican Corn, which they were selling to raise money for future culinary class supplies. The Mexican Corn is grilled, brushed with mayonnaise (?), and topped with Parmesan cheese and seasonings.

To carry on the theme of corn, Martin Shafer demonstrated his homemade corn machines. He had a corn shelling machine that efficiently removes the dried kernels from the cob. Using an old 1927 Maytag washing machine motor, he built a machine to grind the dried kernels, depositing the ground corn into a pail for chicken scratch. Martin demonstrated a manual grinder for grinding corn. The mechanical one was much more interesting. Martin does love his machines! He is so creative and entertaining with them!

The farmers were all celebrating corn harvest with baskets full of beautiful, fresh-picked ears for sale at reasonable prices. Shopping bags of corn were being loaded into cars, and later, compliments on the corn's quality popped up on social media. Hansard Orchard had to leave the Corn Festival early; they sold all their peaches.

On the Heritage Park stage, Donnie Pitman and Friends entertained the marketgoers with their harmonies and music. Sticks and Scoops were there for ice cream lovers, but were unfortunately located behind the Market and not very visible. And Cub Scout Pack 401 was there fundraising with funnel cakes.

Placing hundreds of colorful tiny beads onto a surface, creating a design or picture, takes an enormous amount of patience and talent. Teddy Hammond can spend up to 8 hours a day, every day, using a tiny electrical pen to place the beads. He arranges their colors and hues into a design or picture. That’s quite a work ethic! He has been bringing his beautifully crafted Diamond Art coasters, paddle boards, bookmarks, and pictures to the Market. Some of these intricately beaded pictures are a large 2 ft x 3 ft. That’s a heck of a lot of tiny beads! His Service Dog, Leo, lies calmly by the tables as people mill about around him.

Artists not only come in all shapes and sizes, but also with a wide range of talents, imaginations, and materials. Some people find their art later in life. Others have always been doing artistry of some sort since they were children. Mike Thibodeau began pencil sketches as a young boy and kept it up throughout his life. He has always been a painter, and the ones he had at the Corn Festival were simple, colorful, and stunning. He paints with alcohol ink - a fluid art form where vibrant, fast-drying dyes are manipulated using isopropyl alcohol, air, and blending tools. Mike has studied and uses various media in his art and, at one point, studied with well-known and respected master glassblower Simon Pearce. What you first notice when arriving at his booth is his exquisite Hoop Art hanging everywhere. Using anodized aluminum wire or copper wire, he bends and shapes the wire into shapes of trees, then finishes creating them using glass beads. Beautiful. Imagine one hanging in a window, catching the morning light or setting sun.

The next Union County Farmers’ Market on Saturday, August 1 will celebrate National Farmers’ Market Week. Established by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in 1999, National Farmers' Market Week is an annual celebration held during the first full week of August (August 2–8, 2026) that highlights the vital role that farmers’ markets play in local food systems, economies, and community health. This week recognizes small and mid-sized agricultural producers who sell direct-to-consumer.

Remember, the majority of food dollars spent at a market go directly to the grower or maker (Union County vendors keep 92% of their sales; 8% pays for Market insurance and all basic marketing operating expenses. The Market sees no profit.) Local food is fresh picked and travels fewer miles, thus reducing environmental impact and carbon footprints. The Union County Farmers’ Market serves as a public gathering space where consumers can talk directly with farmers about growing practices and recipes.

Due to family commitments, I won't be available to offer Farmers’ Market reports for the month of August.