Food vendors talk benefits of the Eastern Idaho State Fair

Day two of the Eastern Idaho State Fair brought some rain with it. But that didn’t seem to dampen people’s spirits as large crowds continued to turn out to enjoy all the fair has to offer, especially the food.

One food vendor at the fair this year is “The Pit Stop.” This is its fourth year doing the fair and they start prepping everything about a month in advance. This year, it got some new grills and fryers to help accommodate large crowds, which it said was a little costly.

“This year, including all of our upgrades, we’re a few thousand dollars into a new grill, $500 into new fryers,” said Jim Schondel, one of the owners. “Even though it’s an expense, we welcome those kind of expenses because that means we’re selling more.”

“The Pit Stop” isn’t the only vendor who said the fair gives them a big boost in financial help. The Aberdeen Education Foundation said the fair helps them put a lot of money back into their schools.

“We usually net anywhere around $15,000 every year,” said Kristi Copeland, who helps organize the booth each year. “Every year the teachers can apply for $500 mini-grants for their classrooms for supplies that aren’t covered by the curriculum. And we put $500 worth of books in each school library every year so I definitely think it’s worth it.”

Schondel agreed that all the time and money was worth it too. He said it’s a great way for his family to enjoy doing something together.

Both Schondel and Copeland said their booths had a pretty successful opening day and they hope it continues.

“It was a great opening day,” Schondel said. “We have a goal of approximately $4,000 a day in sales. Yesterday, we were close to that, right about there. So a fantastic opening day.”

“We were pretty busy,” Copeland said. “It was kind of a learning curve because everybody had to get cash registers and stuff so we had a little bit of a learning curve in the morning but we ended up having a really good day.”

The Aberdeen Education Foundation’s booth specializes in Idaho trout and french fries. The Pit Stop specializes in burgers, coffee and new this year, pork chops.

The fair runs until Sept. 10. A complete list of fair events can be found here.