Bob Vose, the 'Korndog King' and northend stalwart, dies at 94

Bob Vose, the Korndog King synonymous with his concession stand at the Illinois State Fair and a longtime Springfield Ward 5 alderman, died Monday.

Vose turned 94 in January and was living at The Villas in Sherman.

The U.S. Army veteran served on the Springfield City Council representing the northend ward from 1987 to 1999.

"Springfield has truly lost a legend," the Vose family posted on the Vose Korndogs Facebook page.

Vose opened the concession stand at the fairgrounds in 1966, though he started selling ice on the fairgrounds in the late 1940s. Vose's is now a fourth-generation business.

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"I think honestly, besides Korndogs, the first time I realized my grandpa was pretty cool was when I walked door-to-door and campaigned for him," said Kelsie Vose, 36, the oldest of his 14 grandchildren. "I grew up thinking, how does everybody know my grandpa?

"The number of people who knew my grandpa and who would come by and say hello year after year, seeing that side of it, changed me. It made me want to be a better person. He was such a giving person."

She said her grandfather "fought for Springfield. He wanted where he lived to be a better place and he wanted to hold people accountable."

Kelsie Vose said she always remembered her grandfather's "tough love and work hard attitude. (In later years) we could talk shop, and I liked that."

Mayor Jim Langfelder called Vose's death "a passing of an era."

"What he should be remembered for was how he was engaged in the community," Langfelder said Monday. "He loved the community and wanted to be part of it at all different levels."

Even out of the public eye, Langfelder added, Vose still had that "advocacy mentality for beautification (of the city)."

Vose was known for championing those beautification projects. He became the "unofficial caretaker of Monument Avenue," the northern extension of First Street, according to SangamonLink, the online history of the Sangamon County Historical Society. Vose raised money for banners and signs and personally tended to trees and flowers in the parkway leading to Oak Ridge Cemetery.

A sign for "Bob Vose Corner" at First Street and North Grand Avenue was dedicated in 2019, said Julia Frevert, a spokeswoman for the city of Springfield.

Frank Lesko, the Springfield city clerk, formerly worked as assistant director of the Office of Public Works when Vose was an alderman.

"I don't think you would find anybody who cared more about his ward and his constituents," Lesko said of Vose. "He was really a guy who had attention to detail. He made sure he made calls for the people who called him, and not only did he make the calls, but he also followed through to make sure things got done. He was a great alderman.

"He was one of the icons of Springfield and he will be missed."

Vose, Lesko added, was always welcoming visitors into his stand on Grandstand Avenue at the state fair. He would also hold court, Lesko remembered, at his Third Street home over lunches he cooked.

"There were many people who came (to the fair) just for that, to grab a Vose's Korndog and Cullers fries and back out the fair they went," Lesko said. "He was definitely Mr. Korndog."

And those Korndogs?

According to Vose, the secret to a great corndog was "good hot dogs and good batter." It was his grandmother's recipe, but Vose didn't divulge the ingredients, even to his wife, Virginia, who passed away in 2017. The couple had been married for 64 years.

Misty Buscher, a northender, said "the northend of Springfield has lost an icon. Bob stuck up for the northend like nobody else has ever stuck up for the northend."

Buscher, the city's treasurer who is running for mayor in the April 4 election, said Vose asked her to help out at the stand during the fair last summer.

"I got to wear a Vose's Korndog hat and I got to make some Korndogs," Buscher said. "(Vose) said, 'The next mayor's in here making Korndogs.' That would be my favorite memory."

Ward 4 Ald. John Fulgenzi said Vose always spoke out about "cutting the grass around the railroads."

"He was just a great guy. He was a good customer of ours (at Fulgenzi's Pizza & Pasta) and his whole family, and I'm going to miss him," Fulgenzi added. "Just a helluva guy."

Former state representative and current president and chief executive officer of the Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce Mike Murphy called Vose "a proud northender.

"He was literally larger than life," Murphy said. "He was known and loved by everyone, but one thing that's overlooked is his work there at Monument Park (at First and North Grand). That was his baby. You drive by there and you say, 'That's awfully nice somebody's taking care of that.' The vast majority of people in Springfield didn't realize that was Bob's pet project.

"He was just a wonderful man. Everyone has great memories of him, and I'm honored to have some of those myself."

For many years, Vose annually hosted a Christmas dinner for Land of Lincoln Goodwill Industries special needs clients. Vose told The State Journal-Register in 2013 that it started with helping out a neighbor who had a relative who was a Goodwill client.

The Vose family, along with the Culler and Coleman families, served as grand marshals for the 2017 fair parade.

Vose and his wife had six children who all survive: Robert Jr., Virginia Geiger, Ronald, Kenneth, Debra Vose, and Sandra Orr.

Vose is also survived by 14 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren.

Vose's visitation is at St. Joseph Catholic Church, 1345 N. Sixth St., from 4 to 7 p.m. on Feb. 28. Following his funeral mass, also at St. Joseph at 11 a.m. on March 1, the funeral procession will go through the fairgrounds, Kelsie Vose said.

Contact Steven Spearie: 217-622-1788, sspearie@sj-r.com, twitter.com/@StevenSpearie.

This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Bob Vose a mainstay at the Illinois State Fair has died at age 94