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Rob Biggins Saves the Green Corn Festival

Posted: Jul 19th 2007 By: CMBurnham

Oklafan Editor's Note: Rob Biggins is the real name of retired professional wrestler Rocco Valentino

Rob Biggins saved the Green Corn Festival. At least that's the rumor that's circulating among reliable sources. Without the traditional cape, tight pants and face mask, he pulled a threatened festival from the puddles. For three days citizens had dealt with the rain well until late Saturday afternoon when the sky fell. Yes, if Chicken Little had been among the festival goers, he would have said that very thing.

The rule of thumb all week long had been that entertainment and carnival rides would continue as long as the weather did not become dangerous. Thunder and lightening, the two culprits behind that word dangerous, finally decided to poke out their ugly heads on Saturday afternoon as moms, dads, kiddos, and strollers headed for shelter. When the rain came in on Saturday evening, we had two acts cancel, and we decided to move the street dance inside the Community center, said Don Crall, president of the Bixby Optimist Club, sponsors of the festival. Once the rain cleared, we had nothing to offer the people in the park. The vendors began a mutiny and blamed it on the lack of activity in the park. I called Rob Biggins of RobBiggins.com and asked if he could help us out. Rob is the former owner of All Access DJs and currently is a professional announcer. He promotes car shows and announces to audiences as large as 8-10 thousand nation wide. Rob arrived within 45 minutes and saved the remainder of the festival. His advantage was being a one-man show with compact equipment that nestled into the center of the gazebo which prevented any danger of rain damage, said Crall. According to Crall, Biggins was the promoter of the first annual Bixby Green Corn Car Show which proved to be a successful addition to the festival. This year he kept the vendors from pulling up stakes and leaving before the festival ended. He truly saved Saturday evening and calmed the savage beast, said Crall. Preparation for Green Corn Festival had oozed through the early part of the week, starting with the arrival of carnival trucks on Monday and young carnival employees playing basketball in the Dollar Store parking lot where they set up a temporary basket. Construction of rides was well under way on Tuesday, and a few vendors pulled into their annual slot on Wednesday, setting a pattern which continued, bringing full parking lots early Thursday morning as more trucks came to plug in their cookers or set up a booth. In spite of determined rain, the hustle and bustle continued to swell as Thursday progressed, and the smell of Indian tacos and funnel cakes mixed with the scent of well watered grass. The traditional bean supper this year transferred from the Old Health Center in Charley Young Park to Crossroads Fellowship across from the park as the health center at that location has been retired. There was a time that the traditional bean dinner was pulled together by the senior citizens, but the Historical Society took over the reigns last year. Even with a change in place and hosts, the crowd gathered. The Green Corn Festival feeling was born on Thursday evening when people brought chairs to listen to music, and crowds lined up for not just corn but any number of other fair-type foods, funnel cakes, corn dogs, and Indian bread--popcorn and lemonade. Optimist Club members sold raffle tickets and T-shirts, shivering a bit when the rain started to fall. Well, there go the people, someone said out loud, but it was not so. Umbrellas and raincoats seem to come out of nowhere, the people stayed, and the music continued. That became a pattern for the event. Festivities continued Friday as people appeared to be milling around all during the day even thought the music would arrive later in the day. The day began with the Pioneer breakfast, and dinner for those who werent stuffed with corn dogs was taken care of at the First United Methodist Church as was Saturday mornings pancake breakfast. Approximately 200 cheering sports fan showed up Saturday morning after the early-morning run for the turtle and frog hopping races. The turtles drew a lot of stadium type encouragement, and the frogs brought squeals, sometimes of delight and other times those of Its hopping in my direction! Soon it was parade time, and the Shriners were back! Not long after the parade business people and T.V. personalities were taking part in the three-person, big underwear contest with a promise that Neat Stuff would give $500 to the favorite charity of the winner. Introduced just last year, this is a sport in which no one can be accused of being too big for their britches. The day was set by then, Green Corn Festival headed straight ahead with music at two locations, a background of a busy carnival, and games and entertainment that just kept going. The rains came--and went--and came again. In addition to Rob Biggins, Crall said another lifesaver was a golf cart donated by Sandy Thomas of Thomas and Associates Custom Golf Carts. During the emergency, said Crall, Optimist members were able to get from one place to another and deal with sitations as they arose. Early Sunday morning, the park was quiet except for a few Optimist Club members making the final round of clean-up, trying to finish before church started across the street. By 1 p.m. the carnival trucks, the first to arrive in downtown Bixby for the event, folded up their rides and began their caravan toward Memorial to move on to the next place. All proceeds made by the Optimist Club through this Green Corn Festival, this having been the 32nd, will be used for the children and youth of Bixby through scholarships, the Miss Bixby scholarship pageant, the fall luncheon for outstanding high school seniors, the foster childrens Christmas party and fishing derby in addition to essay and speech contests to mention a few.