Maybe it’s just the appeal of a condiment known for making eyes water and taking the breath away, but Collinsville’s annual festival honoring its signature crop garners attention from horseradish growers, producers and aficionados from around the country and abroad.

Left to right: Roger Marsicek, Appleton, Wisconsin and Jim Marsicek, Michigan City, Indiana / Photo by Alene Hill

In its 27 years, it has earned the word “international” in the moniker “the International Horseradish Festival.”

Mike Pamatot, co-chair of the festival, along with his wife, Kim, said answering calls from festival and food writers throughout the year and meeting visitors from out-of-town to talk about horseradish are part of the job of organizing the event.

“A few years ago, we had growers and producers from Austria interested in how we grow and grind it,” he said. “They grated it like sauerkraut.”

The finer the root is ground, the more heat it packs.

A Russian farmer several years ago was interested in tips for growing horseradish in Russia. This year, a writer for an Israeli publication sent a copy of his article to Pamatot after calling for information about the zingy root, 60 percent of which is grown in Collinsville.

In addition to international attention, the festival attracts horseradish enthusiasts from around the country, some who join in the festivities and become regular visitors.

“We started coming down after my brother and a friend happened to come down one year,” said Roger Marsicek, of Appleton, Wisconsin.  “He bought a t-shirt and we decided we should come down and see if we could learn anything, and we got a lot of tips.”

Most of the Marsicek family – 10 brothers and three sisters – grow horseradish in backyard gardens and make horseradish. The trip to Collinsville in early June about six years ago has become a yearly event for some of the family. This year, eight brothers made the trip.

Pamatot said it’s a compliment to Collinsville that the three-day festival attracts such broad attention and visitors.

“We had two guys from New Athens come just to buy four cases of our freshly ground horseradish yesterday and one of our recipe contestants came from Naperville just to enter,” he said.

“A lot of them tell me they will see us again next year.”