The red and black padded barstools bolted to the concrete foundation of the West Des Moines Methodist Church stand have seen decades worth of fairgoers enjoying their breakfast sandwiches.
The last remaning Christian food vendor at the Iowa State Fair doesn’t have flashing lights or whacky fried foods, and it doesn’t matter. Fairgoers line up outside the machine shed stand, particularly in the morning, for quality — yet still affordable — food.
Jo Garey is one of them and has been for decades. Garey is from southeast Iowa, but she now lives in Missouri. Despite the distance, Garey never misses the fair and she never skips her breakfast at the church stand, which is celebrating its 76th year.
She likes to start her day with the egg and sausage sandwich. Garey happens to be Methodist, but she comes to the church’s stand “because it’s good.”
“I just hope it never goes away,” Garey said.
From the outside looking in, the stand is a time capsule. Though some of the operational aspects have slightly changed over the years, said Michael Murray, day manager of the West Des Moines Methodist Church stand.
“The bones of it have stayed the same,” Murray said.
What started as a simple stand eventually became a handful of crammed-together barstools, a single booth and four chairs, Murray said. The church went on to add a tent with more seating while removing a few of the iconic diner stools because they were so close together.
The preparation behind the diner bar also has evolved to cater to the growing number of fairgoers. The church now hires a professional to help prepare and cook the food.
“It’s one guy who knows what he is doing and the rest of us are just monkeys,” said Murray, with a chuckle, about the chef.
The chef arrives to the fairgrounds at 4 a.m. each day followed by the first shift of volunteers arriving at 5:30 a.m. Breakfast is the busiest hour for the West Des Moines Methodist Church, making it a long day. The State Fair asks vendors to stay open until 10 p.m.
As congregation numbers started to dwindle, West Des Moines Methodist asked for a hand from other local churches. Roughly 300 congregation members and other volunteers still take and fulfill orders over the course of the fair.
Local businesses step in to help as well. Fareway provides doughnuts and pastries. Casey’s donated red warmers to keep the food hot and ready. Expanding the operation to include other local churches brought more young blood in to the mix.
“In the beginning, nobody was super excited about it,” Murray said. “But now it’s a good thing. It brings a bunch of churches together to do something fun.”
The legacy members who witnessed the stand in its early days are still around, too. Murray’s father-in-law, Ken Ferguson, is 80 years old and he still helps organize the 11-day pop-up diner. Proceeds from all the stand’s sales go toward mission work and operations of the church to help keep it running.
“20 years ago, it was a small piece of the puzzle and now it’s a big piece,” Murray said of the money raised.
What’s on the menu at the West Des Moines Methodist Church stand at the Iowa State Fair?
The menu largely stays the same though the church did remove a few items that required more time than they were worth, like the root beer floats. They often foamed over onto the aging counters, leaving a sticky mess. But the stand still offers $1 ice cream cups and $3 frozen malted milk cups.
The affordable prices have prevailed, though. The church is reluctant to raise prices, Murray said. Much of the menu is $10 and under and customers can get a combo meal with a hot sandwich, chips and drink for $13.
The biscuits and gravy are a must for anyone grabbing breakfast at the stand. Over 11 days, the stand ladles just shy of 2 tons of gravy for the dish, Murray said, which is why the dish is served all day, every day at the fair.
“There are so many choices at the fair,” Murray said. “It’s really nice people seek us out and come every year.”
Kate Kealey is a general assignment reporter for the Des Moines Register. Reach her at kkealey@registermedia.com or follow her on Twitter at @Kkealey17.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa State Fair’s last church stand reaches 76 years old. What sells the most?
Reporting by Kate Kealey, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
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