The 55th annual Mt. Carmel Rotary Corn Day will be held Sunday, July 7, at the Mabel Courter Youth Center and is designated to be the perfect Finale for Mt. Carmel’s Fantastic 4th Celebration week of family fun events. The annual Rotary Corn Day is one of the longest continuous community events in Mt. Carmel.

Rotary Corn Day will again be held in the air conditioned Mabel Courter Youth Center at the north edge of Mt. Carmel. Serving is from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. and the menu consists of all the sweet corn you can eat, fried chicken or grilled chicken breasts, slaw, bread, and a drink. Carry-out is available in the Youth Center Annex which is located adjacent to the main building. People who have large carry-out orders are advised to bring containers from home for their convenience and to expedite preparing the carry-out.

Also, again this year the MCHS Interact Club will be selling ice cream in the Mabel Courter Youth Center during Corn Day and there will be a limited amount of fresh un-shucked sweet corn for sale outside the Youth Center.

Advance adult tickets for Corn Day are $10.00 and $5.00 for children 7 years old and under. Adult tickets will be $12.00 if purchased on the day of the event. Corn Day tickets may be purchased from any Mt. Carmel Rotarian or from First Mid Bank, 400 Market Street; Edward Jones’ offices, 219 W. 9th Street; First National Bank of Allendale, 1515 W 9th St.; or Wabash Savings Bank, 400 N. Chestnut St., Mt. Carmel.

Corn Day is the major fund raising project for the Mt. Carmel Rotary Club and all profit from the event go to support projects and events that benefit the Wabash County Community and Rotary humanitarian endeavors.

Rotary Corn Day History

The Mt. Carmel Rotary Club is gearing up for its annual Corn Day which will be held this year on Sunday, July 7, in the air-conditioned Mable Courter Youth Center. This is the 55th year for this annual community event and is one of the longest continuous community events in Wabash County.

In 1965 the Rotary Club of Mt. Carmel was seeking a money making project to raise money to help fund many worthwhile causes in the community. So, club members Carroll Risley and Garland Carpenter presented to the club the idea of “Corn Day” where fried chicken, sliced tomatoes, a drink, and all the sweet corn you can eat would be served. Consequently, the first Corn Day was held on August 1, 1965 at Bluff City Park immediately south of the VFW building. Several hundred people were served and the club decided to make Corn Day an annual event.

The second Corn Day was also held at Bluff City Park on July 31, 1966. Soon after serving began it started to rain. Food and other items were moved into the VFW building where Rotarians continued serving.

In 1967 the Rotary Club decided to hold the event earlier to take advantage of the early corn crop for people to enjoy. Since 1967 Corn Day has been held on a Sunday as close to the 4th of July as possible. The third Corn Day was held on July 2, 1967, at the City Park near the golf course where it was held through the year 1982.

Beginning in 1983 Corn Day was held at the Mabel Courter Youth Center where it has been held annually to date. The first year at the Mabel Courter cooking was done on the grassy area west of the 4-H building. The weather was hot and windy making the cooking very difficult. The following year the 4-H Foundation built a shelter for Rotary that has worked out quite well ever since. In 1990 an addition was added to the shelter providing a place for Rotary to store its cooking equipment and other Corn Day supplies. The Rotary Club continues to contribute annually to the 4-H Foundation for the use of the 4-H Center for Corn Day.

To add competition to the advance sale of Corn Day tickets the club gives a Golden Cob Award to the Rotarian who sells the most tickets each year. Some of the past winners of the Golden Cob have been: Robert Carlton; John Huribut; Paul Waterbury; Dr. Ernest Lowenste; James WIthrow; Carroll Risley; Ron Loudermilk; James Watson; Mike Mosbarger; Ann Tofani; Bill Wolf, Bill Priest, and Toni Brines.

Corn Day continues to be the major fund-raising project for the Rotary Club of Mt. Carmel. Each year approximately 1,500 people are served at Corn Day. Again this year Corn Day will be held in the air-conditioned Mable Courter Youth Center and will feature all the sweet corn you can eat, as well as fried chicken and grilled chicken breasts, slaw, bread, and a drink. Serving is from 11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. Again this year an added feature will be home-made ice cream that the MCHS student Interact Club will sell. Carry-out will be available again in the Annex adjacent to the main 4-H building.

Tickets purchased before Corn Day are adult $10.00 and on the day of the event, $12.00. Tickets for children under 7 and under are $5.00. Tickets may be purchased from any Rotarian or from First Mid Bank and Trust, Robin Dean, 400 N. Market St.; Edward Jones, Toni Brines, 219 W. 9th Street; First National Bank of Allendale, 1515 W. 9th, Kim Reilly; and Wabash Savings Bank, 400 N. Chestnut St., Bill Hackler.

NOTE: The history of Corn Day was taken from a History of Mt. Carmel Rotary Club written by Ray H. Farrar and printed on May 15, 1995.