Eden Corn Festival

Standard WNY excuse to eat fried foods, drink lemonade with 2 cups of sugar in it and people watch from the beer tent. I would recommend an early arrival (11:30am-ish) to get a decent parking spot otherwise you could be walking 1 – 2 miles to actually reach the festival. Wear sneakers if you don’t like dusty feet and bring a hat or umbrella because shade can be hard to come by. They have the usual and customary carnival «rides» & games. I really enjoyed this past Sunday’s car show. Bring cash! They offer fresh corn on the cob boiled in sugar water and fresh cut fried curly potatoes all over the place.

Western New York in the summer is a Land of Festivals. Some festivals and fairs are widely held to be in their decadence (Italian Festival), while others are on the upswing. Currently, the Eden Corn Fest is in the latter bunch. This is like a state or county fair on a smaller, friendlier, cleaner, and more human scale. The food vendors are a mix of traditional fairground guilty pleasures, and some gourmet delicacies. The Midway rides are in excellent condition and well-​run. Admission is FREE; held the first weekend of August. If you purchase the $ 20 all-​day wristband, you’ll find enough to keep busy for at least four hours. It was my first time on a totally upside-​down ride at my ripe old age; I had always chickened out before but this was such a comforting atmosphere that I was able to do it and I had a scream (well, about a hundred screams). There is music and country-​fair type entertainment, but we didn’t even have time for those. Sunday evening goes until nice and late, with fireworks at 9:45. In a way I hesitate to plug this fair, because it has the ideal size crowd as it is, but I just have to crow about it. And on the way home, my daughter said she had the best day of her life.