ABOVE: An ad for King Korn Days from the Sept. 15, 1982 edition of the Sentinel. Silo ‘67 is bringing back a mini version of the festival, which will take place next Saturday, Sept. 28.

FAIRMONT– A blast from the past. Silo ’67’s (formerly Shenanigan’s) owner, Ryan Hauschild, has been itching to get involved in the community since he bought the bar/restaurant last year. Once he heard about Fairmont’s long ago annual King Korn Days, he knew he wanted to bring it back and is doing so this year, albeit on a smaller scale.

“Small town community traditions is just something that resonates with me,” said Hauschild.

While he spent his adult years in the Twin Cities prior to coming to Fairmont, Hauschild grew up on a farm in Hendricks, Minn., a town of about 600 people.

“When I was chatting with some people who were dining here one night, they told me about King Korn Days and I thought it was the cutest idea in the world to bring in an old community tradition,” Hauschild said.

King Korn Days was started at least by 1952. A Sept. 26, 1952 article from the Fairmont Daily Sentinel, titled “King Korn Days Festival Opens in Fairmont,” reads : “Fairmont is wearing its gay festival clothing today, with queens, parades, kings and corn on its mind as the gigantic 1952 annual King Korn Days festival begins to unfold in all golden, harvest splendor.”

The annual event remained steadfast and popular throughout the 1950s and 60s.

Information provided by Martin County Historical Society’s Executive Director, Lenny Tvedten, is that the 1967 King Korn festival may have set a record with 10,000 hot dogs being devoured by 1:00 p.m. and an estimated crowd of 10,000 plus watching the parade.

While the event stopped for a time, likely due to the Festival of Lakes event taking place instead, it came back again in the 1980s.

An article from the Sept. 21, 1982 edition of the Sentinel reads, “Positive comments from spectators and participation in events are an indication that last weekend’s King Korn Days were successful. That’s good news to the many people who worked on the activities. The King Korn Days committee will meet later this week to decide whether the event should become an annual affair for Fairmont again…”

The last one was held in 1985.

“The thing that excites me the most is, this is the last generation of people who have experienced King Korn Day. I want to bring it to another generation and continue a tradition that’s been in this town for 70 years,” Hauschild said.

He is happy to bring it back on a micro level, at least in the first year.

“The reality is, between the rebrand and all of the physical improvements and managing the bar, the scale is more limited than what I would love to do. I’m putting on the bones of the event,” Hauschild said.

Festivities will take place on Saturday, Sept. 28 in the alley behind Silo ’67 and begin with a band, Door 49, playing from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

“We’re going to do square dancing here from 3 to 5. I think this will be so fun,” Hauschild said.

He had reached out to local square dance group, the Lake Promenaders, which agreed to come and lead it.

“The intergenerational dynamic is exciting. It’s great to get the young people and the older generation share an activity at an event,” Hauschild said.

Silo ’67 will provide corn on the cob and he’s open to other local vendors getting involved. Hauschild noted that the event is family friendly and he plans to have some events available for children, too. He will also have an assortment of vintage King Korn Days memorabilia from past years.

“There’s so many more things we could have done that I myself couldn’t manage this year,” Hauschild admitted.

He brought up the fact that traditionally as part of King Korn Days a king and queen were named and there was a parade and a lake monster.

“There used to be a corn shucking competition for kids. I think that sounds fun,” Hauschild said.

While those features won’t be at this year’s event, he hopes to bring them back in subsequent years.

“I would love to get as much community support as possible to fill up this event, but even if it’s small event, we’re creating a tradition, bringing back a tradition, that we can do every year. To me that’s what it means to be part of a community,” Hauschild said.