MALAKOFF, Texas (KETK) – KETK’s Andrew Samet visited the City of Malakoff people as they get ready for the annual festival.

The 26th Cornbread Festival, coming up this Saturday is set to start at 10 a.m. and ends at 4 p.m.

At the festival, people can expect a cornbread cookoff, live music, crafts, food, a car and cycle show and a corn on the cob eating contest.

Samet said that Malakoff is one of a few Texas towns named after a place in the former Soviet Union. Before they settled on Malakoff, the town debated between two different names, Caney Creek and Mitcham Chapel, before postal authorities settled on the name.

The history behind the Cornbread Festival:

According to a Malakoff local, three women tried to bring traffic into Malakoff 26 years ago. They knew that festivals were held around the area and decided to throw a cornbread cook off which has since grown and morphed over the years to what it is now.

This year, there are 86 booths signed up to come with crafts, jewelry, knives, six food trucks and bounce houses.

The Humane Society will also be there for pet adoption.

What makes Malakoff a special place?

“Malakoff is just a unity of growth, a community of unity. We love to help one another and it’s just a city of growth,” said Malakoff Mayor, Nicole Mason-Driver.

The mayor said you can fish, kayak, boat and swim at the nearby lake.

She also recommends people to visit the Cornbread Festival, which theme is exotic cornbread. The mayor will also be participating in this year’s dunking booth.