By Dustin Staggs

Amid the brisk November night in south Fayetteville, a diverse and curious audience gathered for the second annual Corn Party on Nov. 3. The event surpasses the confines of a regular party and shines as a full-fledged festival. 

What began last year as a funny notion inspired by the viral online craze of “corn kid” has evolved into a captivating celebration of art, music and community. 

Corn Party isn’t your everyday run-of-the-mill gathering; it’s an art-infused celebration that engages the senses and encourages connections. Last year’s inaugural event was a humble beginning, with roughly a dozen dedicated individuals on the team and a couple acres as a foundation. Fast forward to this year, and the roster has grown to approximately 30 enthusiastic students, each playing a distinct role in bringing the festival to life.

Cooper Clark and Jet Gatewood, the creators of Party Loading and the masterminds behind Corn Party, were inspired by festivals like Format and Austin City Limits (ACL) Music Festival. However, they saw a gap in the artistic components of these events and said they felt something that was fully driven by art would be appreciated by more people.

“I’d like to see more of that. I want people to feel and touch things, and if they don’t want to do that, they can listen,” Clark said.

The goal was clear: Corn Party would be a unique gathering of diverse groups with something for everyone to enjoy. All of these events felt like they had the same type of people, like there was always a piece missing at them rather than a variety, Clark said. 

Clark and Gatewood didn’t want to make something just for Greek life or one specific group of people, but an event that everyone could enjoy. One that would bring strangers closer together.

Corn Party was inspired by a simple thought: “Jet was grilling corn one day and said, ‘What if we do a whole party about corn?” Clark said. The corn-themed spectacle is, indeed, a fun jest, but, as Clark puts it, “I love to see people come and laugh at our joke.”

The promotion for this year’s Corn Party leaned less into the informational and more into entertainment. Both the mysterious posters that stuck to the college building walls and the videos posted on their Instagram played an important role in building anticipation and intrigue among potential guests.

A short film, inspired by the likeness of “I Think You Should Leave” and “The Office,” was shot in August by the team and slowly released as little comedic skits. These skits were more than just advertising; they were little pieces of art in their own right. 

Gatewood directed and wrote the script for the short film, and editors assisted him in putting the final product together. Filming most of the cinematic short on farmland in Reydell, Arkansas, the skits demonstrate the team’s appetite for silliness as well as their great affection for the corny notion they had devised.

Despite the chilly weather, there is an obvious enchantment in the air during Corn Party. Like the vivid art dispersed across the festival grounds, people congregate around the warmth of the fires, sparking conversations and connections.

“I kind of like the fact that it’s cold,” Clark said, “because it causes people to group up around the fire, and before you know it, they’re talking to each other and interacting with each other. I think the art pieces do that too.”

But it’s not only about warmth and camaraderie. The Party Loading team has set their eyes on elevating Corn Party to the moon, an ambitious goal shown by the complex front entry of corn-styled yellow balloons creating a tunnel and plenty of features tucked deep in the woods. Each part of the event grounds reflects a distinct aspect of outer space, one of which is a corn rocket ship at the hub of the party, creating a surreal experience for everyone.

Zach Ingle, a junior political science major from Farmington, Arkansas, attended last year’s corn party and said he could tell they increased the scale for this year’s iteration.

“I thought the organization was pretty good,” Ingle said. “It was a lot easier to park. Last year there was some parking troubles, I know, but this year it was easier to get to. There was a lot more vendor options, with the thrift shop and Onyx, so that was really cool.”

Kristi Batchick, a Wayne State graduate student from Michigan, experienced Corn Party for the first time at this year’s occasion. 

“Just stepping in, already overwhelmed by the sheer amount of vehicles, I was like, ‘Where are we going?’” she said. 

When walking through the big corn tunnel and entering Corn Party, Batchick said she could tell someone put a lot of effort into it. “That just kind of continued throughout the entire ordeal. The further we got in, the more I was like, ‘Wow there’s more. Oh my god, there’s still more.’”

This year, Corn Party has gone from a single stage to three separate stages, all meticulously hand-crafted by team members. Among these is the Tree House Stage: a corn-colored, raised wooden platform in the trees inspired by “Star Wars” forest moon, Endor. While the Tree House Stage was reserved for more chiller artists, the main stage held your larger bands, like Ozark Riviera and Rightfield, who put every effort into jamming and getting everyone moving. Then you had the Moondome, a personal favorite of many of the guests at Corn Party, which had DJ’s devoted to continuously playing EDM and House music and having everyone feel the beat in a raging hot and sweaty atmosphere. 

Ingle and his friends checked out all three stages, but he said that they spent the majority of their night in the Moondome, listening to house music, because they enjoyed more of the rave environment. “It was one of the highlights of my month,” he said. 

Gatewood reached out to C3, the production company that put together Format Festival, and asked if they were getting rid of any of their materials from the festival. They were able to receive and use approximately 120 hay bails and roughly $5,000 worth of building materials that would have stayed in the dumpster and been disposed of, Gatewood said. 

“That gave us an option of trying to make it more of a renewable music festival and taking resources from the waste of other events,” Gatewood said. 

When it came to choosing local artists to grace the Corn Party stages, it came down to who was willing to contribute their talents without costing them money.

“This is not a business to make money,” Clark said. “We didn’t get into it to make money, and that’s why we are giving all of our profits to NWA Food Bank. These are artists that deserve to be paid really well, and they’re just giving us their time.”

As for the future, Clark remains grounded, expressing reluctance to scale up if it means sacrificing the festival’s unique, unbuttoned charm.

Party Loading, while still in the infancy of its portfolio, has promise for grander and weirder ideas in the future.

The second annual Corn Party was more than just a party; it was a monument to the power of teamwork, creativity, and a common passion for a quirky, corny joke, which bloomed into a vibrant and enchanting festival experience.