The end of another fair year

Keith Young fills the grill with ribeyes, tenderloins, hot dogs and pork burgers.

Text and Photos
By Deb Patterson
InkFreeNews

WARSAW — The 2025 Kosciusko Community Fair has ended.

Livestock returned home several days ago, all but a handful of commercial exhibitors left the fairgrounds on Friday along with the antique farm tractors and displays. Projects for 4-H’ers, extension homemakers and open class had also closed down by Saturday afternoon.

All that was left were food stands, a few specialty shows and the evening’s grandstand entertainment — truck pull. Even the grandstands for that had plenty of seating available.

While the food stands that travel from fair to fair remained open until the fair closed down for the night, the local nonprofit groups closed up shop for another year.

The Kosciusko County Cattlemen’s Association is one of five nonprofits providing food to fairgoers. Located between the Leesburg Lions soft serve ice cream and the Etna Green Lions food stand, the cattlemen’s association provided fresh off the gas grill beef and pork. Ribeyes and pork burgers are the popular items.

The Cattleman’s Association Food Stand.

Dot Eppelmann and Bob Stiffler were at the stand several hours before opening Saturday to share an insight of what they do.

While the food stand offers all beef hot dogs, grilled tenderloins, ribeyes, pork burger and Big Boss BBQ sandwiches, they also provide combo meals and dinners, that come with applesauce and chips. Their prices have only increased $1 for the main items, with the cost of hot dogs remaining the same as years past.

The meat is grilled fresh, with Stiffler being a believer in serving the meat as close to it coming off the grill as possible. There are times, even with two large gas grills, customers may have to wait a minute or two for the ribeyes.

New this year for the association was the acceptance of credit cards. Eppelmann stated 19% of this year’s business was with plastic. “It was a good first year. We’ve been all cash for 20 plus years.”

Just how popular is the stand? Prior to opening Saturday afternoon, they had sold 870 ribeye sandwiches, and close to 1,500 pork burgers. In addition to serving pork burgers at the stand, they also provided the pork burger sandwich for the 4-H Auction luncheon and for the Junior Leader stand.

One of the semitractors that participated in the Show and Sine.

All the ribeyes are from Owens Market in Leesburg. Stumps LP Pierceton supplies the propane gas tanks for the grills.

The yearly food stand is the main fundraiser for the cattleman’s association. The funds are used mainly for scholarships. But the association has also completed other projects, such as taking two semitrailer loads of hay to farmers following floods. They have also given funds to Feed the Hungry.

Eppelmann and Stiffler rely on volunteers to help at the stand. Many of these volunteers are members or family members of the association, friends, 4-H’ers, and according to Stiffler, “whoever we can bribe.” The volunteers work in two shifts during the stand hours, which were 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday and 4-9 p.m. the opening Sunday and Saturday.

Eppelmann can usually be found at the stand several hours before opening. Going back over the cleaning of counters and tables, emptying the trash and preparing what is needed for the day.

For those who have been going to the fair for over 25 years, they may remember the cattlemen’s association food stand near the front of the fair, across from the Shrine Building. After that building was torn down, they moved closer to the grandstand, where they have been since 2002.

Stiffler stated the original stand was operated by just the cattlemen’s association, then after the move it merged with the county pork producers, until this year. Even though the two associations split, the menu hasn’t changed.

While you missed your chance this year for mouth watering ribeye sandwiches, or tasty pork burgers, keep the Kosciusko County Cattleman’s Association in mind during next year’s fair.