Church food booths served a purpose as well as good food
For the past several years I have written my September article for the paper about some aspect of our Muskingum County Fair.
If you ask people what they like most about the fair, many times the answer will have to do with food. This August at the fair I went to visit with folks at the six food stands that were sponsored by area churches. Those were Anchor Church, Coburn United Methodist, First United Pentecostal, Meadow Farm, Rolling Plains United Methodist and Unity Church of the Nazarene. These churches vary in size of Sunday worship from less than 100 to more than 500.
A 93-year-old gentleman from Coburn said he remembered going to the fair with his mother when he was a boy and eating at the church food stand. Coburn has been at its present location since 1966, but no history is known of previous locations.
Meadow Farm and Rolling Plains have served food at the fair for more than 60 years. Unity Church of the Nazarene has 13 years of service, Anchor Church has four years and the First United Pentecostal Church got the opportunity to come just two weeks before the fair. They put their booth together so they could use their profits to do some repairs to their church building after the June hailstorm.
All of the people I talked with at each of the church stands were upbeat about serving at the fair and saw it as a ministry of outreach and a time of fellowship, work and fun. The churches had from 20 to 40 workers each day at the fair, plus the work crews at the churches who prepared food and sent it in to the fair.
All of the churches served sandwiches and some side dishes. Some served dinners and all had pies, mostly homemade. What one calls fair food is good, but it is nice to be able to sit a tired body in a chair to enjoy homemade food and all the church stands had tables and chairs.
Some church stands have specialties. Meadow Farm has always served pork sausage for breakfast and throughout the day. Anchor Church also served breakfast. Rolling Plains served corn on the cob. I was told last year one gentleman ate 127 ears of corn, but this year he only ate 84.
The profits from these food stands does not go to the church general funds, but will be used for local ministries and missions and special projects like Christian School, Bible Quiz team, Christ's Table, family assistance, church food pantries, Tru-light ministries and homeless shelters to name a few.
At the Meadow Farm stand I talked with Peggy James, age 95. She worked at the stand every day. Oh, if we all could have her abilities and devotion.
Iris Eppley is a member of the Farm Bureau Council.
This article originally appeared on Zanesville Times Recorder: Church food booths served a purpose as well as good food
