The 35th annual Urbana Sweet Corn Festival has annually hosted local vendors, radio stations, public service tents and of course, thoroughly-buttered corn on the cob. But what set this year’s event apart from those prior was where all those cobs went after hungry community members had sheared off the kernels.

This past Friday and Saturday evening, recycling tents graced every intersection of the downtown Broadway Avenue in Urbana. Sustainability was the focus, and there were multiple ways that the organizers and volunteers made it possible.

Katie Pilcher, junior in ACES and customer service intern for Solo, a paper and plastic ware company, worked with Solo’s sustainability chair and the city of Urbana to not only establish this year’s festival focus, but also to provide post-consumer plastic cups for all the beverages sold.

“They (the cups) are all made here in Urbana,” Pilcher said. “And they can be recycled again to make more.”

First-time volunteer Marcy Englert sat under one of the many Solo “Recycle Here” tent stations. She oversaw the sorting of cups, plastic bags and corncobs, as well as gave out stickers and pencils to children.

“We’re here to encourage recycling,” Englert said. “And to do our part for the Urbana community.”

U-cycle, the Urbana Recycling Program co-sponsored the effort along with Solo.

“This is the first time we (Solo) have been a major sponsor here. We’ve had an overwhelming response (to our recycling stations),” said Drew Huffman, Solo employee in the customer service department. “But we just provide the products. It’s up to the consumer to put forth the effort.”

For every environmentalist who tossed his or her cobs into a compost can, there was another who dumped corn waste into a standard trash can. Jeff Hoskins and his daughter Logan were two of the many volunteers who were in charge of emptying and re-bagging these cans.

“It’s a shame, really, that people don’t want to take the extra time (to recycle corn cobs),” Hoskins said. “We live in Vermillion County, where they just stopped recycling because the funds ran out. So we drive 38 miles every week just to haul our recyclables here. I don’t want my kids to grow up with a bunch of landfills everywhere.”

Like Jeff and Logan Hoskins, many of the volunteers for the event did not witness participants actively recycling. But for sorority and fraternity members who worked through the evenings, being green was not part of their job description.

“I dance around, pose for pictures, and I got hugged by a small child,” said Sara Peterman, senior in LAS who volunteered through Alpha Phi Omega by wearing a full-body corn suit for publicity.

And University students, many of whom were unaware of this year’s festival theme, arrived at the festival for the simple purpose of eating the locally grown goodness of Illinois sweet corn.

“I was looking for something fun to do — an alternative to hanging out on campus,” said Kelsey Grandi, junior in LAS, “And I really do love corn.”