If you give Camp Verde Parks & Recreation Manager Mike Marshall your ear, he’ll let you know that this year’s Corn Fest is going to shuck and a-maize you.

It’s a place where your friends will now be called “ear buds” and no corny joke is off limits.

This one day dedicated to uninhibited kernel revelry is back in downtown Camp Verde on Saturday, July 17, with more than 60 vendors with everything from food to t-shirts to jewelry to snacks to non-profits.

Also back is fresh roasted Hauser & Hauser corn, which has “corn-erned” the local summer corn market with its Verde Grown sweet corn.

The event will be held in a street-fair type of setting with multiple food trucks selling a variety of offerings, explained Marshall. There will also be live musical entertainment plus, he added.

Gates open at 11 a.m. with free admission and the fun continues until 8 p.m. After missing last year due to COVID-19, the event will return for its 27th year to celebrate Camp Verde agriculture and hometown fun.

Of course, the main reason to attend Corn Fest is to watch the corn drip from the vats of melted butter just before you sink your teeth in the just-picked roasted delight.

“That’s the big thing everybody wants,” Marshall said.

Un-cooked Hauser to-go corn will also be available for purchase by the dozen and will benefit the local non-profit Kiwanis group. Two years ago, they sold 375 dozen ears of corn to go, which was a fund-raiser for Meals on Wheels, he pointed out.

This year there will also be a dunk tank operated by the Trail Life youth program assisted by the town.

The Community Gym will offer inside vendor space, as well as tables and chairs for attendees to rest out of the sun.

Marshall said they are closing off Hollamon Street, which is in front of the gym, and extending the event around the building because they have more vendors.

Look for the chocolates, cakes and pastry vendors inside the gym where they are protected from the heat, Marshall said

Corn Fest has six or seven food trucks with a lot of variety: Hamburgers, Mexican, Salvadoran, pizza, barbecue, ice cream, snow cones and snacks, Marshall said

The Corn Fest will also include the Verde Valley Ranger’s beer garden, but not wine booths. “We got three different bands,” Marshall said. There will be a 30-by-60 foot shaded pavilion set up with the bands on the end.

Aaron McCall performs from noon to 2 p.m., Peaceful Outlaws, from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. A third band will still be named.

The KB Cornhole Tournament is from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., the “Corn Fest Kids” interactive children’s theater will be in the gazebo and a children’s activity garden will be set up from noon to 5 p.m.

In the evening, there’ a sweet corn kickboxing event, Marshall said. The kickboxing will have an admission charge and returns after a successful premiere in 2019.

The kickboxing is set up on the field next to the Corn Fest, will have bleachers and runs from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m.

This is the 27th year of the Corn Fest and the second year that the Town of Camp Verde is running the event. No pets will be allowed except for service animals.