Livonia's Corn Roast Returns Sunday for Its Ninth Run

Bicentennial Park hosts the Good Old-Fashioned Neighborhood Corn Roast from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sept. 13.

There are a handful of days on the Livonia calendar that feel like the city taking attendance — everybody shows up, everybody says hi, and nobody's in a hurry. Sunday is one of them.

The 9th Annual Good Old-Fashioned Neighborhood Corn Roast runs from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 13, at Bicentennial Park, 36000 W. Seven Mile Road. The Livonia Lions Club will be at the roasters once again, and the Livonia Rotary Clubs will be handling refreshments. Community groups from across the city are setting up tables, and the city says several local elected officials plan to be there.

What it actually is

If you've never been, the format is simple and it works. You walk in, you get an ear of corn pulled off the roaster a few minutes earlier, and then you wander. The wandering is the point. In past years the park has filled with tables from dozens of Livonia organizations — service clubs, youth programs, church groups, sports leagues, nonprofits, city departments — all of them staffed by people who are genuinely happy someone stopped to ask what they do.

That's the part that's hard to replicate. Livonia has a deep bench of volunteer organizations, and most of them do their work quietly enough that you'd never know they existed unless you bumped into them. The Corn Roast is the one afternoon a year they're all standing in the same field.

Past years have also brought entertainment and food vendors into the mix alongside the corn, and the event has been free to attend. The city's listing for this year doesn't state a cost, so if you're budgeting for a food truck line, bring a few dollars just in case.

Know before you go

• When: Sunday, Sept. 13, 11:30 a.m. – 3 p.m.
• Where: Bicentennial Park, 36000 W. Seven Mile Road, Livonia (north side of Seven Mile)
• Who's cooking: Livonia Lions Club on corn, Livonia Rotary Clubs on refreshments
• Bring: Lawn chairs, sunscreen, and a tolerance for running into six people you know

Bicentennial Park sits on the north side of Seven Mile between Farmington and Newburgh roads, with lot parking on site. Arriving closer to 11:30 than to 3 is the move if you want first crack at the corn and time to actually talk to the groups tabling.

Why it's worth the trip

Nine editions in, this event has quietly become one of the better arguments for why Livonia works the way it does. It's not a festival with a headliner and a ticket price. It's a park, some roasted corn, and neighbors finding out what else is going on in their own city.

Full event details are on the city calendar at livonia.gov.