TWO WEEKS AT THE IOWA STATE FAIR
METHODISTS, SAUSAGE GRAVY, AND A WHOLE LOT OF SHEEP!
Last year, some members of the West Des Moines Methodist Church approached me with an offer that I could not refuse. I was preparing lunch in my kitchen at the Pi Beta Phi Sorority across the street from Simpson College, when one of the girls came into the kitchen saying that her chemistry professor had a “food thing” that he needed to talk to me about.
I figured that he probably needed me to cater an event or needed me to judge some a chili cook off or something like that. What he really wanted to talk to me about was a “food thing” of a totally different nature. What he wanted to talk to me about was to see if I would be interested in managing the West Des Moines Methodist Church’s food booth during the Iowa State Fair.
My commitment as the house chef for the Pi Beta Phi sorority, never involve me having to work over the summer, so I was definitely free to do it. And the pay that they were offering me was definitely worth my time, so I took the bait; hook line and sinker.
Working at the Methodist Church stand for 10 hours a day, every day, I was able to see and experience so many things. So here in no particular order, are some things that I experienced.
The back story: If you are not familiar with The Iowa State Fair, it is an annual state fair that with the exception of 1941-45, and 2020, has been held every year in Iowa since 1854. In 1886, the fair was moved to its current and permament 313 acre location on the east side of Des Moines. It is home to to infamous butter cow, visited by practically every presidential candidate before the upcoming Iowa Republican primaries. Martha Stewart came one year just to have a corn dog. The Iowa State Fairgrounds is an area of 313 acres, and is so big that a person cannot see everything at the fair in one day. In 1948, the West Des Moines Methodist Church was given permission to open a pie stand on the east side of the fairground’s sheep barn. But in the years since, the church’s menu has been offering much more than a piece of pie.
Typically, the attendance at the Iowa State Fair is over 1 million people. This year, over 1,100,000 people walked through the gates (the second highest attendance ever) Peole come from all over the world, to attend the Iowa State Fair.
Somewhere along the line, there was a decision to serve breakfast, and lunch. Now, the West Des Moines Methodist Church stand opens up at 6:30 am to serve breakfast to the 4-H and FFA kids that are showing animals, their parents, any other guest (including animals).
While I have gone to the fair at least twice every year since I moved to the Des Moines area, I opportunity now have the opportunity to work at the fair every day. So here are some this year’s most memorable moments.
3:00 am comes early - To be the manager at the stand meant that I had to wake up every day a 3:00 am. I am not a morning person. After a few days, my alarm would go off and I woud have a brief thought that maybe the customers at the stand wouldn’t notice if it were open this morning. Normally, I hit the snooze button and I then drag myself out of bed to face the day.
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The fair is quiet very quiet at 4:00 am - When I arrive at the booth at 4:00 am the sheep are still sleeping and it is very quiet. I am not a morning person. To help me wake up I drink 2-20 oz. cups of coffee chased with a 5 hour energy. I don’t know if that amount of caffeine is healthy, but that’s what it takes to get me going in the morning.
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A Word About Sausage Gravy - Every morning I open up and heat up about 32 cans of sausage gravy.
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Yes…..Coffee! and Iowans are Iowa Nice: People come from all over the world, to attend the Iowa State Fair. One day an young 20 something Asian girl came to our stand. With her Asian accented voice she asked for a “hot drink”. I asked would you like a cup of coffee. With a huge smile she said, “Yes! Coffee please!” On another day, a man with a hi tech video camera and woman came to our stand. While they were eating, I asked them where they were from. They said that they were from Germany. I asked them if they were enjoying the fair and enthusiastically they said Yes!!! They told me about how everyone at this fair is so so nice. I said Here in Iowa, we call that being Iowa nice. They gave me huge smiles and said, “Yes!! We love Iowa nice!!”
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The volunteers-While I am the kitchen manager, the rest of the stand is staffed by volunteers. Mostly from Des Moines area Methodist Churches. But if you are a member of any church, you can sign up to volunteer. This year pastors, soccer moms, show choir moms, a guy who had punk rock bar for a year, a lawyer, teachers, a retired economics professor, school kids, grandparents, and so many other people come to the booth during the fair to volunteer. It is so honestly humbling for me to see so many different people come together to raise money for their church.
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Lots of customers - Every day at the Methodist Church stand we serve between 1,000-1,500 people-In my at career as a chef, I have never cooked for so many people in my life. Sure the sausage gravy comes out of the big cans that they buy from Sam’s Club. The breakfast biscuits just require heating precooked sausage and egg patties which are easily assembled. How hard can this gig be? When hundreds of people find their way to the stand every hour, it is “painfully” busy.
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The Lemonade Stand Across The Street-Remember that 70’s hit,”Shake Your Booty by KC And The Sunshine Band? Well, as a marketing gimmick to draw people to his stand, the owner took a lesson from Weird Al Yankovic and turned “Shake Your Booty” to “Shake Your Lemonade”. So about every hour the music would come on and were were treated to: Shake Shake Shake, Shake Shake Shake, Shake Your Lemonade. The tune was funny the first few times, but by day 11, not so much.
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The Singing of the National Anthem-Every day at 10:00 am someone would anounce over the fairground’s intercom, to stand for the National Anthem. Everyone everywhere would stop wherever they were at, put their hand over their heart, for the National Anthem. One day it was sung by what sounded like three or four 10 year old girls, one day it was sung by a lady with an operatic vibrato, on another day, it was sung by another woman Whitney Houston style. Still another day, the anthem was sung by a gentleman who rushed through it a bit too fast. But my favorite day of the National Anthem, was when this woman was singing it and the sheep in the barn were just as loud as she was. It went something like this:
Oh say can you (baaaa) see By the (baaaaa) dawns early light What so proudly we hail (baaaaaaaa) At (baaaaa) the twillights (baaaaaa) last gleaming
I will spare what the rest of the song sounded like.
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An unusual prayer request - At the Methodist Church stand, there are always cards for prayer requests for people to fill outon the countertops. One morning the Day Manager found one of the prayer request cards filled out with the following message: Please pray that we are to get Bessie and her fat #%$@* on the trailer. While it was probably a joke. There are alot of large animals that need to getting loaded and unloaded at the fair and I am sure that a certain amount of those animals had issues.
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Jerry and I were mishandling the buns - Every day there was a person who was the day manager who was responsible for overseeing the whole operation. On day 7 of the fair, the manager was Jerry. Jerry is hilarious! I’m talking class clown hilarious. Many times during the day, he had me laughing so hard that I could hardly concentrate on cooking. So on day 7, the lady who helps to deliver our hamburger and hot dog bun vendor was looking over our bread rack and became very angry with us. “You guys are totally mishandling your buns! After hearing her comment, Jerry and I looked at each other like we were in our junior high locker room. We endured the rest of her scolding and assured her that we would do a better job at handling our buns. When she left, Jerry, and I took every opportunity of make jokes about “mishandling our buns.”
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How are the tater rounds cooked? - One morning on the eighth day of the fair. Grace, a highly enthusiastic middle schooler uses her extremely piercing voice to yell at me from the front counter. “Steve!! How do you cook the tater rounds!? I will admit that I was pretty tired that morning. And when I get tired I can get a bit snarky. So I answered. “I take my Magic The Gathering cards and conjure a dragon. Then I roll to see if the dragon can breath enough fire to successfully toast the tater rounds.” If that doesn’t work, then I bake them in the oven.”
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The future of our country is in great hands - I hear so many people in this country talking about their concern about our country and assessing that the United States of American is somehow going to fold. I don’t believe this anywhere close to the truth. Every day during the fair, I would take a break and walk through the sheep barn and watch the young kids in 4-H and FFA kids getting their sheep ready for their respective judgings. Just watching these kids work so hard taking meticulous care for their animals gives me so much hope for the future because I know that all of those kids are learning incredible life skills and responsibilities that will not only benefit them in each of their respective futures but also our state and county in the years to come.
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Each morning we pray - Each morning, before we serve our first customer is served, we all gather in a circle for a prayer. We thank God for the opportunity to be able to raise money at the Iowa State Fair, and we pray that each of us be a witness to God’s love as well.
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The Official Iowa State Fair Beef Burger Recipe - This is by far the most incredible beef burger recipe that I have ever tasted. My aplologies that the recipe is for about 20 servings, but I trust that you will be able to do the math to reduce to portions. Trust me! This recipe has John Wesley’s official stamp of approval!
West Des Moines Methodist Iowa State Fair Beef Burger Recipe 5# Ground Beef 2 Cans Campbell’s Chicken Gumbo Soup 1/2 Cup Ketchup 1/2 Cup Oatmeal 4 tsp. Seasoning Salt Directions: Cook the ground beef thoroughly. Drain off the grease and discard. Add the Chicken Gumbo Soup, Ketchup, Oatmeal, and Seasoning Salt. Mix ingredients thoroughly and serve with hamburger buns.
At the conclusion of working at the Iowa State Fair for 11 days, I was physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausted. But I was so thankful for the opportunity to be a part of something so special. I especially want to thank all of the volunteers who worked so hard to serve so many people. Take care and we will do it again next year.