Community united by corn

For Emma Barr, high school graduation comes with a tinge of bittersweetness.

It means she won’t be able to defend her title as La Habra’s high school corn-eating champion.

Every year, the La Habra Corn Festival organizes a devouring contest between Sonora High School and cross-town La Habra High. Barr, a former Sonora cheerleader, bested her competition in 2013 by downing seven ears of corn in five minutes — and again in 2014, with eight ears in the same amount of time.

“I’m a girl that likes to eat,” said the 19-year-old, who plans to major in biology at Grand Canyon University this fall.

Barr’s achievement is particularly notable given her diverse competition. Through 2013, the festival pitted one high school’s football team against the other’s cheer team, meaning that Barr conquered both boys’ and girls’ appetites.

Last year, the contest separated boys and girls, but Barr still annihilated her rivals.

“The first year, I didn’t really know what to expect,” Barr said. “So I just kind of ate corn the way I normally eat. But then, the second year, I kind of knew what to expect, and so I had a system of how I ate the corn, and I think that’s what helped me go faster than everyone else.”

That system being?

“It’s kind of like scraping off the corn from one end to the other and turning it as I’m eating it,” Barr explained. “Like a beaver.”

This weekend, Barr will attend the Corn Festival as a court member with Miss La Habra. She’s sad not to be able to shoot for nine pieces this year, but she looks forward to watching her friends chomp it out.

For those looking to polish off the highest number of cobs, there’s plenty to go around. In addition to Sunday’s high school face-off, the festival offers contests for children and adults. They were scheduled to take place Saturday. One chilling rule, as stated on the event’s website: “If a contestant vomits, they will be automatically disqualified.”

The annual extravaganza, which began in 1949, trucks in about 14,000 ears of fresh corn each year, with the latest supply coming down the coast from Washington. In addition to corn, the festival has booths offering funnel cake and other foods, plus live music, a parade, carnival rides and other contests — children’s superhero costumes and salsa-making being new on the docket this summer.

Among the other attractions is simple community spirit. The festival, organized by the La Habra Host Lions Club, counts school board trustees, council members and chamber officials among its volunteers. It even boasts its own theme song: “Corn Festival Time in La Habra,” a guitar and harmonica raver that features lyrics such as “Eat corn on the cob till you get full / in downtown La Habra at the Corn Festival.”

“It’s fun just watching everybody get together,” said Councilman Tom Beamish, who helps run the funnel cake booth. “A lot of the old folks, you know, haven’t seen friends in years, so they come by just to reminisce.”

Others may just come for the corn. When asked if she got a bellyache after eating so much the last two years, Barr proudly responded in the negative.

“The second year, actually, even after they finished the corn-eating contest, I took an ear of corn with me,” she said. “I still wanted more.”

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IF YOU GO

What: La Habra Corn Festival

Where: El Centro-Lions Park, 320 Erna Ave., La Habra

When: Noon to 9 p.m. Sunday (high school corn-eating contest at 4:30 p.m.)

Cost: Free

Information: (562) 665-5515 or lahabracornfestival.com