CornFest!

Every year our neighboring city of Brentwood holds CornFest, a fundraiser for local service organizations. It’s a big deal around these parts, with literally thousands of people attending the three-day event, a combination of carnival midway, beer and wine tents, exhibits, food and the usual laundry list of vendors, artists and retailers hawking their wares.

Agriculture is still a huge part of our region of CoCo County, and Brentwood corn is considered a true delicacy with its small, white kernels packing a super-sweetness that’s made it famous and sought-after around the state. Safeway even touts it in its advertising every season.

This year, Kathy and I decided to attend CornFest for the first time, at its new location just down the main drag from our house. We went on Saturday, though we were able to enjoy Friday night’s fireworks show from our driveway. It was a beautiful sunny day, and, after loading up on tokens, made our way to one of the corn booths for a delicious roasted ear slathered in butter. The adjacent condiment table was laden with everything from garlic salt, sea salt, chili powder, hot sauce — even a spray bottle of lemon juice. Kath and I dressed our corn, and then wandered over to the grandstand to listen to the cover band. Life is good.

One of the joys of these affairs is the small town vibe. In the wine tent, over a (plastic) glass of vino, we chatted for a good half-hour with a complete stranger. In another tent, a local dance school was presenting a student recital featuring some of the most adorable little girls doing their very best to keep to the choreography.

I guess that this “small town” thing is especially fitting since, at the end of this month, Kathy and I are heading north to Washington state to attend her 30-year high school reunion in the tiny town of Omak, located in the northeast corner of the state, near the Canadian border. It’ll be a trek, but should be fun to attend, once again, this low-key affair celebrating a part of Kathy’s life in the town where she spent many of her formative years.

We’ll fly into Seattle, and then rent a car for the five-hour drive to Omak, passing through the Lake Chelan wine region along the way.

BTW: The wine that we enjoyed at CornFest just so happened to be Cline’s Oakley Four Whites, a blend of a quartet of grape varietals grown in our own little burg. It was slightly crisp, with a nice round quality and a perceptible tropicality and apricot notes. Nicely chilled, this local juice was perfect on a hot July afternoon.