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Flipping out at fair is a tradition
By Alex Powers, Staff Writer
Thursday, July 30, 2009 | No comments posted.
MYRTLE POINT — Community could be in the people or places that make up a person’s surroundings.
For some, it’s a 5-ounce slab of ground beef.
Meat sizzled on a grill in the permanent food structures at the Coos County Fair on Wednesday as Don Fenn prepared a few burgers.
The food booths have been there for at least six decades, and volunteers from the Bridge Grange have been there just as long.
Bridge Grange started at the fair 61 years ago, cooking breakfast for children in the 4-H club.
“There were times, years ago, when they had to stay here. And that’s how we got started, cooking for them,” Fenn said.
Grange volunteers still make breakfast, but keep cooking most of the day offering hamburgers, hot dogs and chicken strips to hungry fair visitors.
Fenn has been cooking here for 30 years, the retiree said, taking time off from his job when he worked to volunteer at the fair.
He’s stood over the grill during heavy rain and blistering heat waves.
“That’s to say the least. (Tuesday) was hot,” he said.
Fenn cooked 250 hamburgers Tuesday, and has cooked about 300 in a single day in years past.
But he wouldn’t miss the only Bridge Grange fundraiser of the year. Proceeds from food sales will help fund scholarships and other programs.
“All of that takes money, and that’s what we do,” he said.
Groups at the permanent food booths including the Coquille Lions, Friends of Scouting and Bridge Grange have to pay a percentage to the fair, too, said fairgrounds manager Cindy Bedingfield, but she tries to give legacy groups like the grange first pick of the booths.
“These three are kind of grandfathered in, and they’re local,” Bedingfield said. “It’s tradition, family, community — what we call part of the circle,” she said.
For some, it’s a 5-ounce slab of ground beef.
Meat sizzled on a grill in the permanent food structures at the Coos County Fair on Wednesday as Don Fenn prepared a few burgers.
The food booths have been there for at least six decades, and volunteers from the Bridge Grange have been there just as long.
Bridge Grange started at the fair 61 years ago, cooking breakfast for children in the 4-H club.
“There were times, years ago, when they had to stay here. And that’s how we got started, cooking for them,” Fenn said.
Grange volunteers still make breakfast, but keep cooking most of the day offering hamburgers, hot dogs and chicken strips to hungry fair visitors.
Fenn has been cooking here for 30 years, the retiree said, taking time off from his job when he worked to volunteer at the fair.
He’s stood over the grill during heavy rain and blistering heat waves.
“That’s to say the least. (Tuesday) was hot,” he said.
Fenn cooked 250 hamburgers Tuesday, and has cooked about 300 in a single day in years past.
But he wouldn’t miss the only Bridge Grange fundraiser of the year. Proceeds from food sales will help fund scholarships and other programs.
“All of that takes money, and that’s what we do,” he said.
Groups at the permanent food booths including the Coquille Lions, Friends of Scouting and Bridge Grange have to pay a percentage to the fair, too, said fairgrounds manager Cindy Bedingfield, but she tries to give legacy groups like the grange first pick of the booths.
“These three are kind of grandfathered in, and they’re local,” Bedingfield said. “It’s tradition, family, community — what we call part of the circle,” she said.
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