Service clubs raise funds with fair concession stands
Fairgoers line up to place orders at the Izaak Walton League concession stand along the midway during the Brown County Free Fair. Photo by Amy Zents
Marty Bogatcke, Vice President of Izaak Walton League Chapter #79, stands near the grill setup behind the concession stands during the Brown County Free Fair in New Ulm. Credit: Photo by Amy Zents
Foot traffic moves through the main fairgrounds thoroughfare past concession banners, food trucks, and carnival setups. Photo by Amy Zents
Fairgoers line up to place orders at the Izaak Walton League concession stand along the midway during the Brown County Free Fair. Photo by Amy Zents
Marty Bogatcke, Vice President of Izaak Walton League Chapter #79, stands near the grill setup behind the concession stands during the Brown County Free Fair in New Ulm. Credit: Photo by Amy Zents
Foot traffic moves through the main fairgrounds thoroughfare past concession banners, food trucks, and carnival setups. Photo by Amy Zents
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NEW ULM -- The Izaak Walton League of America New Ulm Chapter #79 and the Optimist Club of New Ulm are operating concession stands at the Brown County Free Fair as annual fundraisers for youth programs and conservation work.
For Chapter #79, the week of the fair is one of the organization’s largest fundraisers of the year. Marty Bogatzke, the chapter’s vice president, worked the concession stand as cook and said proceeds fund local youth shooting opportunities, conservation efforts, tree plantings and habitat rehabilitation, including New Ulm’s pollinator park.
“Our organization, the Izaak Walton League, this is one of our biggest fundraisers for the year,” Bogatzke said. “We use this to generate revenue so we can help support youth shooting opportunities. We support conservation efforts in our community, tree plantings, any kind of habitat rehabilitation that we can support.”
“Our mission is environmental conservation,” Bogatzke said. “And that’s what we do with our revenue that we generate to support those efforts.”
A short distance down the midway, the Optimist Club of New Ulm runs a busy booth selling deep-fried cheese curds. Volunteers Liz Altmann, Sheldon Rieke and others staffed the fryer, cash window and supply stations throughout the day to keep pace with steady customer demand.
Elsewhere on the fairgrounds, food and beverage stands lined the midway. A family-run stand sold fire-roasted sweet corn with a condiment bar of butter, cajun, garlic and cheese toppings, while nearby trailers offered pulled pork nachos, beef brisket sandwiches, smoked pork chops on a stick, footlong corn dogs, tacos in a bag and grilled Bavarian bratwursts. Papa’s Snack Shack served an all-day breakfast menu of pancakes, eggs, sausage and coffee for early arrivals and exhibitors. Other vendors offered buttered popcorn, iced frappes, iced coffee, fresh-squeezed lemonade, cinnamon sugar mini donuts, funnel cakes, cotton candy, caramel apples, soft-serve ice cream and root beer floats.
Proceeds from the Izaak Walton League and Optimist Club stands stay local, supporting Brown County youth activities, conservation work and community projects. Both stands will remain open through the close of the Brown County Free Fair.