Hometown fun

Do you love small town fairs? Does the thought of sack races, smores, music in the town center and a parade turn you giddy with delight? They are not a thing of the past. In fact, festivals are thriving in small towns across the country.

In the Iowa Lakes Corridor region, the Estherville Sweet Corn Days is justly famous. It’s rare you get a chance to run around with a flaming corncob. The weekend long event starts with the running of the corn torches, Olympic style. The highlight is the Run for the Cob, with a choice of a 5k, 10k or half-marathon.

Free sweet corn and a huge array of food for sale, from BBQ to cotton candy and snow cones, are big. There’s the hula hoop competition, fun on the inflatables, a game show, tug of war and water fights.

See the website.