Malakoff’s Cornbread Festival to serve up smiles

MALAKOFF, Texas ( KETK ) – The Annual Cornbread Festival in Malakoff is poised to serve up some family fun this Saturday from 9:30 a.m. through 4 p.m.

The hidden gem of the south end of Cedar Creek Lake will be the site of more than 150 vendors, food trucks, live music, cornbread cooking contest, corn on the cob eating contest, face painting, bounce houses and more.

To name a few of the unique events at the festival:

• Scavenger hunt with five prize packs worth over $100 each
• A car show
• Axe throwing
• A petting zoo with fainting goats
• The world’s largest brick, known as Baby Clay
• A dunk tank featuring the Malakoff mayor

This marks the 27th year of the festival, and the second straight year they have seen 50% year-over-year growth.

“The growth has been phenomenal and it’s just really cool to see folks excited to come out to a little slice of rural Texas,” volunteer Scott Tucker said.

A wide variety of vendors, most from around East Texas, will set up shop for the day. There will be businesses with handmade jewelry, vintage goods, crafts, clothes, plants, custom hats, candles and more.

“A lot of people do come here early with the intention of buying gifts at the cornbread festival,” Cornbread Festival volunteer Liz Tyler-Loncar said.

A pillar of the Cornbread Festival is, of course, the food. With cornbread expected at every corner (each vendor is encouraged to bring a sheet of cornbread), there will also be plenty of other homemade goods.

“Many of the vendors have food products like home canned items, jams, jellies relishes,” volunteer Mike McCully said. “A lot of home baked goods. You will not leave this festival hungry, and you’ll probably have meals for several days afterwards.”

The Cornbread Festival would be incomplete without the annual cornbread cookoff, which is broken into three categories: sweet, savory and exotic. All categories must have cornmeal as the primary ingredient.

First prize for each category comes with $100 and a commemorative iron skillet, second place gets $75, and third place gets $50. Cornbread must be dropped off in a disposable container, along with a copy of the recipe and a note as to which category the cornbread should be entered. You can drop off cornbread at 104 S. Terry St. between 9 and 10 a.m. on Saturday.

Something new and in high demand this year are corn hats, as seen in the video above. Originally made to help designate volunteers (look for the tall head of yellow corn), they grew in popularity and will be available in the morning at the information booth.

Another interesting feature of this year’s festivities: dunking the town’s mayor, Nicole Mason-Driver.

“For the second year in a row, you get to dunk the mayor,” volunteer Bradley Scott said. “I don’t think there’s a lot of mayors out in East Texas who would get in a dunking booth for a good cause, but we have an incredible mayor and she is willing to take one for the team, so come dunk the mayor.”

In addition to being known for its cornbread, Malakoff is also home to Acme Brick. This year, the festival is giving them a nod in a big way.

“Baby Clay holds the Guinness Book of World Records for largest brick, and it will be here on display for the cornbread festival,” Scott Tucker said.

At the heart of the festival is the love from volunteers, vendors and the community for their small town .

“To understand that on the south end of Cedar Creek Lake, or what I call the quiet side of Cedar Creek Lake, is this charming little town with merchants and small businesses who diligently open up every day doing business in small town America to encourage people to shop local and support small businesses,” Bradley Scott said.

For a map of the festival and more information, visit their website .

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