No visit to the Shawano County Fair can end without a visit to the food booths along the midway.
Many of them are run by church groups, veterans organizations and other nonprofit organizations that use the profits for a variety of community outreach projects, scholarships and more. To make the food booths succeed, the organizations rely on an army of volunteers.
Although there is no way to determine how many volunteers take a shift or more in the 18 community food booths, it is safe to say that hundreds of people give up a little time each year to cook, serve, run the register and prepare drinks.
Ken Zuleger knows the routine quite well. He has been helping out at the Bonduel Area Fire Department food booth for 30 years. This year, he plans to work three four-hour afternoon shifts in the food booth.
He said Bonduel’s fire chief encourages all the firefighters to work at least one shift during the fair, but Zuleger tries to go the extra mile.
“We’ve got time. I’m retired,” Zuleger said. “It’s just to help out.”
While working a food booth is old hat for Zuleger, Dan Hansen is still learning the ropes. Hansen, who was working in the Clintonville Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 664 booth, is volunteering with the group for the second time.
“It was great. I loved it,” Hansen said. “The time went by really quickly. I just retired the year before, and so I joined the VFW.”
Hansen noted the fair booth is a primary moneymaker for the post. Last year, the group collected $2,000, which goes to the post memorial fund and scholarships.
For Wolf River Harmony, selling cream puffs helps the barbershop singers buy pretty things.
Octe Mattson, the oldest active member of the group at 76, said the money raised from the food booth helps to buy costumes for the singers to wear in various competitions. Mattson has been a volunteer in the Wolf River Harmony booth for 25 years, dating back to when the group was affiliated with Sweet Adelines.
“We all enjoy singing, and because of that, we have this camaraderie together and a common purpose,” Mattson said. “I feel that being part of a group, if you want that group to be successful, you have to participate. That means you give of yourself, out of love and out of fun.”
Mattson noted the cream puffs are healthier than some of the other fare served on the midway.
“The cream is real cream in there, and they are outstanding delicious. It is a dairy product, and we find that this helps the farmers,” said Mattson, a self-proclaimed farm girl.
The booth operated by the Shawano Lake Lions sits at the main access point from the east entrance to the midway, so it tends to be busier than most, according to Lions member Jeff Jacobson. There are eight to 10 members from the Lions and the Lady Lions working the booth at a given time, he said, including four or five volunteers cooking food in the screened-off kitchen.
Jacobson is also a seasoned volunteer, with 25 years under his belt. The Lions opened the food booth at 11 a.m. Wednesday, well before the official start of the fair, to accommodate folks on their lunch hour dying to taste some fair food.
“We’re the first ones in and the last ones out,” Jacobson said. “I’ve done it for so many years.”
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