Residents, visitors brave heat for sweet corn

Cathy Spaulding, Muskogee Phoenix, Okla.
·2 min read

Jun. 28—Even as Saturday temperatures sizzled, Nathan Abel kept turning succotash on a hot griddle.

"Making sure it's cooked good," Abel said. "Just make sure it gets a little crispy. It needs to get a little crispy."

Abel and friends braved a double dose of heat Saturday as they cooked succotash for Fort Gibson's 14th annual Sweet Corn Festival.

Hundreds came to Fort Gibson on Friday evening and Saturday to taste sweet corn in its many varieties. The festival is sponsored by the Frank Gladd American Legion Post 20.

A longtime favorite feast has been succotash, a tradition started by Jeff Stach and his family. The current recipe features a grilled mix of sweet corn, potatoes, yellow squash.

"Jeff Stach started making this and from the very beginning, I've been here for every corn festival they ever had," Mark Seabolt said, holding two heaping servings. "Oh my gosh look at it, absolutely delicious. It's the sweet corn that makes it so good. It's made with love."

Okra lovers got a little extra at the end.

"That's what we top it off with — a scoop of fried okra," said succotash cook Clayton Armstrong.

Visitors had other ways to enjoy corn, including slow-cooked inside the husks.

Jerry Harris watched over the slow cooker Saturday morning.

He said the secret to good slow-cooked corn is "when you open it up and take the hair out of it, then soak it and cook it."

Harris said a 30-minute soaking keeps from burning the husk and getting a burn on the corn. The smoker holds 180 ears of corn, he said.

The corn is cooked at temperatures from 145 to 160 degrees, depending on the moisture.

"It will take about an hour to an hour, 30 minutes for each load of corn," Harris said. "You don't have to go low and slow on corn. But you don't want to over cook it or it will shrivel up."

Festivities opened Friday evening with a corn shucking contest. It ended in a tie between Cody Nguyen and Johnny Nguyen.

Lindsay Spencer won the 13 and over corn eating contest Saturday night.

Nancey Ray won the festival's grand prize, a weekend cabin getaway on Fort Gibson Lake.

New Post 20 Commander Danny Gross said festival turnout was not bad this year.

"With the heat and gas prices, it could have been better," he said.