By Lynn Rumley
For the Salisbury Post
COOLEEMEE — It doesn’t matter whether you bake your cornbread in a Pyrex dish, a cake pan or a black iron skillet. What does count is that you might win $100 as the first-prize winner in the upcoming Carolina Cornbread Contest to take place on Saturday, Sept. 24, at Cooleemee’s 20th Annual Textile Heritage Festival.
A three-judge panel will make its rounds to taste all of the homemade cornbread samples, then the public will get its turn. At the end of the cornbread line there will be a giant pot of steaming “Needmore Pintos.” Bob Cranford of Woodleaf once worked at the mill but has since become an expert pinto chief. There will be plenty of chopped onions to top it all off.
“Cornbread was once a staple in down home Carolina cuisine,” says Susan Wall who is coordinating this year’s contest. “In my mother’s time growing up in a mill town, biscuits would be baked on a wood cook stove in the morning and cornbread would follow in the oven to be served for dinner (which was at noon). Left-over suppers of cornbread and milk (or milk and cornbread) would follow later in the evening.”
“It’s exciting that we have talented artist Bonnie Byerly on our Cooleemee team. The logo she has created for the contest is more than cute. Any Carolina baker would be proud to display this image in the kitchen.
In addition to the cash prize of $100, the first-place winner will be awarded a beautiful hand painted Byerly plate with the contest logo. Second-place prize will be $50 in cash and a Byerly plate. The third- place winner will receive $25.
There is no fee to enter the Carolina Cornbread Contest but you must fill out a registration form and return it by Thursday, Sept. 15. Call 336-284-6040 to request a form or drop by the Zachary House at 131 Church St. in Cooleemee, Wednesday-Saturdays 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. You will also receive the official contest rules.
“We hope the word will spread some friendly competition among women of this area’s many churches and organizations,” says Wall. Who knows, someday the Carolina Cornbread Contest will draw as many visitors as the Lexington BBQ Festival.
This will be Cooleemee’s 20th Annual Textile Heritage Festival and the Zachary House grounds on Church Street will open at 10 a.m. There will be music, food, craft vendors and a kids’ area until 4 p.m.
Serving from the old Cook Shack, chief chef Walter Ferrell will be serving locally-cooked barbecue, pork chop sandwiches, kettle fries and Helen Daywalt’s original Brunswick Stew.
“We are looking for donations of a freezer or two of homemade ice cream from a score of Cooleemee families,” says Sandra Ferrell, one of the festival’s coordinators. She is also hoping that the homemade ice cream will be served from a “CHA Sweets Booth” that will also features fried pies, cookies and locally-baked pound cakes.
If you would like to volunteer to help on Festival Day, to make a freezer of ice cream or any other homemade sweets, call 336-284-6040.
Proceeds from this annual event go to the Cooleemee Historical Association to keep its three museums open and its “Discovering Our Heritage” Kids Program alive. Donations are tax-deductible.