Great Minnesota Get-Together also about great local nonprofits

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One Midway organization, Hamline Church United Methodist, has had a dining place at the State Fair for 116 years. Above, Elaine Christiansen, Ken Feulner, Monell Jakel, Marge Feulner, and Chef Erik Hendrickson, take a break from the rush of food service at the Fair. One Midway organization, Hamline Church United Methodist, has had a dining place at the State Fair for 116 years. Above, Elaine Christiansen, Ken Feulner, Monell Jakel, Marge Feulner, and Chef Erik Hendrickson, take a break from the rush of food service at the Fair.

By DEBORAH BROTZ

While people are already buzzing about the 47 new foods offered at this month’s 2013 Minnesota State Fair, most people don’t realize some State Fair vendors are not in it for themselves, but all about raising funds for our neighborhood’s best charities.

One of these groups is the Midway Men’s Club, which gave a $16,000 donation to the City of St. Paul to be used for youth activities around the city. The group raised the money at its concession stand at the State Fair on 1354 Underwood St., where they sell sweet rolls, donuts, hot dogs, hamburgers, Polish sausages, bratwurst, hot dago sandwiches, beer, pop, coffee, milk, and orange juice.

The Midway Men’s Club has had a food stand at the fair since 1960.

“Before that, it was the St. Columba Men’s Club that had that stand,” said Matt Stark, Midway Men’s Club membership secretary. “The parish on Hamline Avenue got a new priest in 1959. The new priest didn’t like the idea of them selling beer at the State Fair. So, they broke off a secular men’s club. We spun off the St. Columba Men’s Club.”

The menu at the club’s stand has not changed very much over the years.Aug2013Monitor_HamlineDiningOld3

“We’ve always done burgers, hot dogs, and brats,” said Stark. “The major change is we started selling Summit Beer. Summit is local. A lot of patrons at the fair kept asking for it. We wanted to keep our customers happy.”

The bulk of the money raised by the Men’s Club goes to youth activities in the neighborhood. The club has given tens of thousands of dollars for children’s activities.

“We support Little League teams and other sports like hockey and basketball,” said Stark. “We also support Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, the Midway YMCA, and do some after school reading programs. We support a number of programs at local rec centers, Hancock and Griggs.”

The city parks department will use the $16,000 Men’s Club donation for athletic equipment, field trips, special events and classes at seven neighborhood rec centers and two city-wide programs. The group also donates fair proceeds to other city park and rec programs that support sports, as well as the Hamline Branch Library.

Stark says they give to local recreation centers to help neighborhood children.

“It’s just a way for us to make sure our kids have stuff to do outside of school,” he said. “We encourage kids to go outside and play. This makes a big difference to the health of the neighborhood. It’s a way to keep the community and neighborhood strong.”

Being at the State Fair is important to the Men’s Club because it’s their main fund-raiser for the year.

Aug2013Monitor_HamlineDiningOld1While the club is always looking for new members, Stark’s hopes for the club at the State Fair are the same every year.

“We hope for good weather, plenty of big crowds, and plenty of customers,” he said.

Another Midway organization, Hamline Church United Methodist, has had a dining place at the State Fair for 116 years. Their dining hall is at 1667 Dan Patch Ave.

“It’s been in operation since 1897,” said Jan Bajuniemi, a member of the church’s dining hall committee. “We’re the longest continuously operating vendor. There have been a number of different locations. We moved on to the property where we are now in 1944.”

That historical vendor experience was different from now.

“In the very beginning, sandwiches were made at church and taken over to the State Fair in a horse cart to sell,” said Bajuniemi. “The State Fair was such an agricultural event. Most farm people brought their own lunches.”

The church serves much the same thing every year at the fair.

“We have sit-down, hot dinners, hamburgers, wrapped sandwiches, salads, desserts, and a full range of beverages,” said Bajuniemi. “Last year, we added Izzy’s Ice Cream.”

The highest priced menu item, the $9.95 dinners, include an entree of Swedish meatballs, baked chicken, or ham loaf; two sides; and a bread choice. The lowest priced item is a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

“Families like it, because they can come in and sit down together,” said Bajuniemi. “The thing that’s been there the longest is ham loaf. People come in and look for that every year.”

Bajuniemi says their dining hall has survived when others have failed because they’ve got the support of church members.Aug2013Monitor_HamlineDining

“They understand the value of doing the project,” she said. “It does bring income to the church budget, but it also provides interactive multi-age groups that you can’t create anywhere in church.”

The money made at the dining hall goes back to the church budget.

“There are significant costs in operating the dining hall,” said Bajuniemi. “We turn over $40,000 to $45,000 to the church budget. It goes into the operating budget of the church. It becomes part of the programs and events the church can do.”

Bajuniemi hopes more people and new people find them at this year’s fair, Aug. 22-Labor Day, Sept. 2.

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