OSHKOSH, Wis. — Feeding a family at an agricultural event should not cost an arm and a leg. Such is the belief of Jim Memier, coordinator for the Winnebago County Holstein Breeders Association food stand at the Wisconsin Public Service Farm Show. The show will take place March 26-28 on the grounds of the Experimental Aircraft Association in Oshkosh where the food will be ready.
All proceeds from the food stand will fund the Winnebago County Holstein Association and benefit juniors of Winnebago County. The money allows kids to receive scholarships and calf grants, attend camps and the junior Holstein convention, earn awards from the state Holstein association and provide entry fees for anyone who wants to participate in district shows.
“It’s a big fundraiser,” Memier said. “You’ve got to keep the dairy community going, and we try to give back what we (dairy farmers) are producing.”
The food stand is in the main food tent with about five other vendors. There is a public seating area with picnic tables in the middle of the tent. The Winnebago County Holstein Association stand uses a lot of dairy products. Menu items include grilled ham and cheese sandwiches, ice cream sundaes, brownie sundaes, cream puffs, white and chocolate milk, and coffee and donuts in the mornings.
Donations from sponsors leading up to the event allow the organization to keep their prices low. For example, a grilled ham and cheese sandwich costs $3.
“It makes a good breakfast sandwich too,” Memier said. “A family can come there and not over-exceed versus a state fair where you’ve got to spend umpteen hundred dollars to feed a family of four or five. This way, you can get by and fill everybody up on a pretty decent budget.”
The stand is staffed by Holstein association member volunteers, junior Holstein members and FFA chapter members. Volunteers can reach upward of 25 kids per day. Some people take orders while others are busy grilling sandwiches, scooping ice cream, putting toppings on sundaes, pouring coffee, preparing cream puffs and running the food to the counter.
They are equipped with six griddles for making sandwiches so they can make 25-50 at a time, allowing people to be served with virtually no waiting.
“We have enough help that we’re ahead,” Memier said. “We can keep the product fresh.
A lot of times, it comes off the grill and goes right out to the person.”
The sundaes are made with Cedar Crest ice cream and scooped to order. A regular sundae includes three toppings of choice, and the brownie sundae is bigger than other sundaes, Memier said. The biggest brownie sundae they sell is $5, which is the highest-priced item on the menu. The sundae includes large scoops of ice cream, two brownies and a topping choice of strawberry, chocolate or caramel.
Last year, the stand served 2,200 grilled ham and cheese sandwiches, 300 cream puffs and close to 1,500 sundaes. This equated to 53 3-gallon tubs of ice cream.
Memier said sundaes are always a popular menu item.
“It doesn’t matter if it’s cold or warm, everybody wants a sundae,” Memier said.
Memier said it is helpful that the show is in the club’s county so kids can attend and manage the stand. This year will be even better since the show falls during the school’s spring break.
“Last year, it was while school was in session and the week before spring break, so some kids took off a day of school,” Memier said. “This year, it’ll be nice for them all to be able to be there.”
The affordable prices and opportunities for the kids are all possible because of sponsors, Memier said. With six new sponsors this year, they have a total of 22 sponsors. Memier anticipates almost all costs for supplies and ingredients will be donated this year. Additionally, sponsor vendors hand out food tickets that are redeemable only at their food stand. Eleven sponsors participate in the ticket feature.
“We can’t do this without the sponsors,” Memier said. “We’d like to thank all the sponsors that support this event. It’s really appreciated. We look forward to seeing everyone at the WPS Farm Show and hope they stop by to say hi.”
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