Nonprofit groups keep food court tasty

MOSES LAKE - Think of it: A Space Burger for lunch, of course a Space Burger; are you kidding? - from the Moses Lake Lioness booth, and maybe top it off with fries from the Knights of Columbus. Maybe a smoothie from the Moses Lake Band Boosters as a chaser, or possibly the butter beer from the Moses Lake Lions Club. And of course a glass of ice water from the Ephrata Lions Club somewhere in there.

And for dessert, an ice cream cone from Block 40, or possibly an eleph- no, no, a lions ear from the Moses Lake Lions. Or maybe even a deep-fried Twinkie from the Lions.

And for dinner, a lionburger from the Ephrata Lions, or possibly pizza from the Moses Lake Band Boosters. Or maybe an Hawaiian burger from the Moses Lake Eagles. Maybe one of those Block 40 milkshakes to wash it down.

It's fair time again. Time for fair food again.

And a little-known fact - food from a not-for-profit booth doesn't have any calories.

Service organizations, local clubs and charitable organizations fill many of the food booths at the fair, and some of them have been there for decades. Don Gordon has been in the Ephrata Lions Club for 40 years. "We were one of the first booths over there," he said.

Some food long ago stopped being just a meal and became a tradition, the Space Burgers being the most prominent example. "At our office we send one person to get all our orders for lunch each year," wrote Sherrie Cook Gonzalez on the Space Burger Facebook page. Space Burgers are such a tradition they've got their own Facebook page.

And fair food from a booth run by a service or charitable organization is just better somehow. Just ask the crews who cook the food.

"We make Lion ears. They're similar to elephant ears but they're much better because all the proceeds go back to the community," said Rob Stokes, Moses Lake Lions, the co-chair with Dennis Foster for the food booth.The money raised at the Block 40 ice cream booth pays for scholarships for children living within the irrigation area, said Block 40 director Rich Mueller.

"We're known for our ice cream. It's the best and cheapest at the fair," Mueller said. It's almost as famous as the Lioness Club's Space Burgers. "We've been doing it so long people actually come up and ask for ice cream from specific machines," Mueller said.The Ephrata Lions sell lionburgers, which of course are awesome, just ask the crew, and lion dogs, but they're just as famous for their ice and century-old ice machine. "The reason that everybody comes to us is our ice machine. We have the best ice machine on the midway. People come just for the ice," said Bill Sangster, who's in the Lions Club.

Certain organizations are known for their specialties, while others have changed the menu over time. The Moses Lake Band Boosters have had a booth for a long time. "They've been doing it for, forever," said Lynn Townsend, a band mom who ran the booth about six years. These days pizza junkies head to the band booth for a slice.

The fair runs Tuesday through Saturday, and "it gets busier each day," Townsend said. In 2011 fair organizers had a free fare day, and that was the busiest day ever for the band boosters, Townsend said. "The Space Burger line was a mile long. Well, it seemed like that," she said.

Ah, the Space Burgers. "Nobody out there, and I mean nobody, competes with the Space Burger," Sangster said. It has 1,459 "likes" on Facebook.

For Space Burger rookies, it starts with seasoned ground beef just like a hamburger, but the burger is covered with the Lioness Club's secret sauce and sealed between two slices of bread in a special press. The Lioness Club "bought the Space Burger machines in the early 1970s and have never looked back," said Michelle Boetger, the club's publicity chair. The actual Space Burger has been around for a half-century; it originated at the 1962 Seattle World's Fair, and the Grant County Fair got the Space Burger makers after the fair closed shop.

As for the secret sauce, the Lionesses lips are sealed.

"The Space Burger booth is the Lioness' only fundraiser," Boetger said. The money raised goes into the club's charitable projects, she said. That's true with all the organizations in the food court.

"We make enough to do some good for the lives of the children in the block," Mueller said.

It is work. Some groups own their booths, others don't, but all require maintenance. "A little painting, a little carpentry," Stokes said. Victoria Rojas, class of 2013, painted the band booth in Chief maroon and gold as her senior project, Townsend said.

The Ephrata Lions spend a lot of time keeping that ice machine going year after year, Sangster said. And most groups, including the Lions, are having trouble filling the schedule as membership dwindles, Gordon said.

The volunteers who work the booth really do work. By week's end at the Moses Lake Lions booth, "you get a bunch of Lions walking around with their tails between their legs," Stokes said.

But reward is enough to keep organizations coming back year after year. "We generally make a little money," Stokes said, The fair is "the biggest moneymaking project we have."