The Corn Roast

Saturday, August 16 was the Chesterfield, NH Annual Corn Roast sponsored by and benefitting the Chesterfield Fire and Rescue Association. For those of you in Texas who have never heard of  such a thing, it's basically a giant field filled with big fire pits. There are drums sitting around with tree limbs sharpened at the ends. You stand in line and get a paper plate with a raw hot dog, a bun, a scoop of potato salad and a plastic fork. What more could you possibly need? You take the hotdog and grab a limb and cook it right over the open fire. It's so fun to watch the kids running around trying to cook their dogs. Oh, there is one more thing you need - CORN! There is also a pit where the firemen roast ears and ears and ears of corn.  The line is 50-100 people long all night (and sometimes longer). The corn has the tiniest kennels and it's the sweetest corn I've ever had. You don’t even really need salt or butter (although there is a "corn prep" station if you want to dip your corn in a giant vat of butter and flavor it with a seasoning).

There were tents with crafts and food. There was a 50/50 raffle and if you bought a ticket, you got a balloon.  So of course, the kids were asking for balloons and parents were talked into buying tickets for all the kids. A band plays and people dance. And naturally, after dinner you grab your plastic baggy of graham cracker, chocolate and marshmallows and make smores for desert. By then the air has a chill in it, and whether you want a smore or not, you stand by the fire and roast a marshmallow just to get warm.  The fire lights the field and the whole place smells like food and fire and smoke and it's just the most fun you can imagine watching the people. 

I went last year and had a great time. I couldn't wait to go  back. This year David's friends, Geoff and Joannie, went with us to  experience this truly New Hampshire event.  We set up a table and chairs.  This is G&J with me and David's father, George.  

The only thing about this year that was not as "perfect" as last year was the fact that it stormed for about 30 minutes about 5 hours before the event, so the fields were MUDDY!  Last year, I wore cute sandals, being a rookie and all, with little heels on them.  This year I knew better. I was prepared - flip flops - always a good choice - well, that is unless there's a field of mud you are going to spend the evening walking through. By the time the night was over my feet were filthy.  Hard as I tried to stay clean, right before we left I inevitably fell into a hole and lost a shoe and went barefoot into the mud pit. I must have had a look of horror on my face, as I was quickly reminded women pay all kinds of money for mud treatments on their feet!