[itinerary | lodging] Corn. As Americans, it’s in our DNA. We eat it, cook with it, even fuel our cars with it. Endless fields of corn have been the subject of horror films, alien conspiracy theories, and baseball legends. And like Kevin Costner’s mantra in Field of Dreams, the Town of Avon’s Rotary Club knows that if they build it… you will come.

To the annual corn festival, that is. Which is precisely what you and the travel companions do on a sunny Saturday afternoon in August. You had been to a few festivals around upstate New York before — such as Rochester’s Fringe Fest and Naples’ Grape Fest — but corn is a new commodity in your festival circuit. You hold no expectations of the event, other than there being tons of corn. It seems a fitting festival in the land of plenty: what with all the vast farmland surrounding Conesus Lake and Livingston County, it’s only fair to celebrate the crop that made America, well, America. And if the Finger Lakes’ vineyards can have a festival, then its cornfields should have one, too.

^{Entering at the south end of Genesee Street for the Avon Rotary Corn Festival in Avon, NY}

Avon Rotary Corn Festival ’25

The Avon Rotary Corn Festival takes place along a few blocks of Genesee Street, culminating on the north end at the intersection of the Opera Block and Circle Park. You see that street parking in residential neighborhoods is discouraged, but you later learn about parking at the school with shuttle buses. You manage to snag a spot further down Genesee just as the crowds are starting to build. You packed the Radio Flyer wagon for the little travel companion and all her accoutrements — a personal pack mule that has come in handy many times on your summer adventures. You peer down Genesee Street in the direction of the festival and observe two neat rows of tents and booths on either side of the street, corralling throngs of festival-goers toward the center of the village.

One of the main foci of the Rotary Corn Festival (besides corn) is artisanal crafts, and it’s clear the festival draws out the best of the region’s artists and makers. From hand puppets to marionettes, skull masks to dreamcatchers, artisan booths at the Corn Fest offer a variety of hand-made treasures, keepsakes, and practical art to add to any collection. Is your living room looking a little barren? Brighten it up with a homemade ceramic toadstool. Just maybe wait a few years if you have a curious and handsy little one at home.

^{Corn fest artisan booths, with a cameo by a little puppet master}

Bronson Berries Farm Stand

Of course, no festival is complete without a sampling of delicious foods — especially fresh crops from local farms. Several booths and tents along Genesee Street feature local fudge and confections, raw organic honey, apple-based whiskeys, spice rubs and hot sauces, and even… homemade freeze-dried berries? You realize you’re standing face to face with the subject of your last farm stand tour: Bronson Berries Farm Stand. The friendly stand attendant and owner of Bronson Berries lights up when she sees the now-familiar (you hope) Welcome to Conesus Lake House T-shirt you’re wearing, and a personal connection is finally made “IRL” as the kids say.

You introduce yourself and your companions and learn that Bronson Berries is run by the husband-wife team of Todd and Natalie. “We loved your article!” Natalie exclaims. “It captured the quirky humor of our stand perfectly.”

“That’s what I try to do,” you explain. “As small business owners, we’re all in this together.”

Chatting with Natalie you learn that, like yourself, she is a transplant to the area but still a native New Yorker — having originally hailed from downstate. Todd had called Livingston County home before meeting her, and he encouraged her to settle in his homeland of beautiful Western New York. And to make a long story short, they eventually bought and founded Bronson Berries farm.

“Always happy to support your farm and especially these,” you say as you go to buy a bag of the freeze-dried berries.

“Please — it’s on the house,” Natalie replies with a grin, and you humbly accept the gift. It’ll only be five minutes before the berries are gobbled up — yeah, they’re that good.

^{Running into our new friend from Bronson Berries}

You’re thrilled to have made friends with other entrepreneurs around Conesus Lake. Festivals like this one are hyper-local marketplaces and, at the same time, they’re happenings. A careful mixture of planning, fundraising, permitting, and soliciting vendors to provide food, entertainment, games, shops, and more — free to enter, pedestrian-friendly, and open to the public among village squares and neighborhoods. It’s the ultimate social network, and you’re here for it. It’s a great environment in which to raise your daughter.

Victorianbourg Wine Estate

You continue moving through the festival, past a wooden stage featuring an acoustic guitarist, while on the opposite side the Conesus Lake Riders club auctions off a brand, new motorcycle. Tops Markets hosts a spin-that-wheel gameshow, while a winery all the way from Niagara County hands out samples. The wine seller invites you to taste some reds. You consider yourself something of an oenophile, so you try a few varietals before settling on the pinot noir.

“Niagara. Isn’t that a long drive?” you ask.

“About an hour,” he replies, which gives you an excuse to visit the winery as well as the Falls some time. You thank him for the red, which you plan to have with dinner later. The Radio Flyer has the perfect pocket for your festival haul.

^{The next Vanna White; Conesus Lake Riders club; Victorianbourg Wine Estate; and wine sellers’ POV, probably}

The festival eventually opens up and spreads out through a midway across from Avon United Methodist Church and the Avon Village offices. Here you find the Rotary Club’s booth, where they’re selling — you guessed it — corn and corn accessories, such as corn fritters and salt potatoes. Behind the midway, you hear live, brassy big band music and observe the delightfully sweet aromas of festival staples like fried dough, kettle corn, and fresh squeezed lemonade. It’s a cacophony of sensations and it’s happening in a small but proud upstate NY village just outside of Conesus Lake.

^{Avon Rotary’s corn booth; big band music; and a lemon creature that will consume us all}

A beer garden is setting up at the east end of the midway, and outside of it are a few corn props and a photo cutout board. You can’t resist the photo opportunity with your little companion, though she’s not tall enough to reach the peep hole. You find a creative way to hold her up while keeping your own head visible through the giant corn cob.

“Friends, Avonians, countrymen,” you declare. “Lend me your ears!”

At least your travel companion thinks you’re funny.

^{Getting a little corny}

Even the smallest activities like these corn games are important with your daughter. Not only for the memory-making, but for her growth and development. She’s learning how to try something new, how to play with others, and how to stretch her imagination. In a society obsessed with glowing screens, it takes every effort on your part to show her the real world.

The Gateswingers

And real places. Like Avon’s Opera Block, constructed in 1876. The Italianate-style commercial building houses the Town of Avon offices and sits adjacent to businesses like the Avondale Pub and the Avon Park Theater. Here, Genesee Street collides with the southwest quadrant of Circle Park’s roundabout to form a mini-square, where presently a band called the Gateswingers performs classic hits your nonni would’ve loved. The Rotary Corn Festival reaches its apex in the center of Avon village.

^{At the north entrance of the Corn Festival: Avon’s Opera Block}

Festival-goers continue to flow in and out of the Opera Block square, while two aunties camp out in their folding chairs next to a grassy patch. Decked out in a blue bodycon dress with white trim, the Gateswingers’ femme fatale vocalist materializes center-stage, but only when you hear “wait a minute — something’s wrong” do your ears perk up. Suddenly the band breaks out into “Mambo Italiano,” and you can’t stop picturing the opening credits of Married to the Mob. Not only that, but you can’t stop yourself from dancing along.

You bring your companions onto the dance floor for a couple of mambo moves. Nearby, the aunties watch silently and expressionless, never ones to reveal their cards. The Park Theater marquee boasts the viewing of Chevy Chase’s classic Caddyshack while the savory scent of peppers, onions, and sausage wafts from the edge of the festival. Flashbacks to decades ago, tagging along with your dad to St. Anthony’s street festival in Endicott, the Little Italy of Broome County New York; or watching fireworks from Northside Park at your cousin’s house above Harry L Drive during firemen’s field days in Johnson City. It’s memories like these that you hope to instill within your little companion. You swing her up high above your head, as the singer takes a big pause at the final “Mambo…”

“Are you ready?” A question you’ve asked your daughter a million times, every time you played the stand-up game or turned the last page of her favorite book. She grins her reply.

“It-a-li—“

“Are you ready?”

“YAH-NO-O-O-O-O-O-O-O”

You drop her back down toward you, grabbing her tight to your chest as she squeals with joy. It might sound corny to some, but to you being a good parent is pretty “based” as the kids might say.

As your visit to the Corn Festival draws to a close, you start the trek back to your car through the festival again. At the corner of Genesee Street and Park Place, you pause to catch a shot of the American flag waving over a lamppost. It’s been a great day in a classic upstate NY village. Today you are one with the locals and your neighbors in Avon.

As Bruce Springsteen sang, you truly are corn in the USA.

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