Church Row’s last parishioner turns 75
West Des Moines United Methodist Church has been serving food at the Iowa State Fair since 1949
DES MOINES — The foot traffic very occasionally includes hoofed traffic.
Among the photos documenting the 75 years of the West Des Moines United Methodist Church’s food stand at the Iowa State Fairgrounds is one with a dismounted rider placing an order. It’s only fitting for a place surrounded by animal barns. Indeed, on Tuesday, horse-drawn wagons and horse trailers went back and forth past the stand by the northeast corner of the Sheep Barn.
The church started serving food at the fair in 1949. Its current facility opened in 1975. Proceeds go to “various mission projects and worthwhile causes,” according to its website. The food stand opens two days before the fair starts to serve animal exhibitors, then lasts the duration of the fair. The long counter and tented area with seven picnic tables allow for patrons to eat at least partially sheltered from the elements.
Mike Murray is day manager of the stand, but he admitted, “I don’t know what that really entails except I’m just here all day.” He does the grunt work of refilling napkin dispensers and utensil holders. The stand opens for business at 6:30 a.m., but “we get people who start banging on doors at 5:45 wanting to get coffee.”
Murray has volunteered here since 2001. The biggest challenge has been staffing. There are 320 sign-up slots, and “as the church has aged, we’ve had to look at organizations to help fill those volunteer roles,” Murray said. “Father Time is undefeated.”
Sandy Johnson, of New Hope United Methodist Church in Des Moines, signed up for one day of work after West Des Moines UMC put out a call for volunteers. She’ll do it again next year if it fits her schedule.
The church also has had to streamline and industrialize the stand’s setup. “We hire a professional cook every year and then we hire cook’s help, so those two guys are paid, and then we hire a cleaning crew that comes in at night,” Murray said. It’s a far cry from the small cooktops the stand used to have.
From ‘minor Midway’ to lobster rolls
“‘Church row,’ a line of dining houses operated by various churches and located just south of the administration building, was a minor Midway,” the Des Moines Tribune said Aug. 24, 1939. “Barkers shouted out the meals — ‘roast beef, roast pork, ham, chicken and sauerkraut’ — and their shouts competed with music from radios and phonographs in the dining tents.”
The longest-lasting organization on Church Row, Chesterfield Christian Church, ended service after its 90th year in 2002. All that’s left of that era along Rock Island Avenue is a marker and West Des Moines UMC’s stand.
Operators intend on being affordable relative to other fair options, but prices had to be raised in the recent past and the pies from Village Inn cost more this year.
It seems ridiculous to say that state fair food fare can be gentrified, but near the north end of the old Church Row, JR’s Southpork Ranch serves lobster rolls, now including a $100 double-footlong. The line for those Tuesday evening was so long it interrupted pedestrian traffic on the street.
In that light, the humble beefburger and walking taco are needed now more than ever.
All in the church family
At the West Des Moines UMC food stand, church council chairperson Kristen Kouba says making those beefburgers and walking tacos is her favorite part.
“That’s my kid, that’s my kid, and my husband is in the back, family volunteer day,” Kouba said as she pointed to two young midafternoon volunteers. Tuesday was her one day of work at the fair. She reckoned (after a short sidebar with her son Ben) that she’s been volunteering for about a decade.
Kouba’s other son, Owen Kouba, 19, works the night shift and “it’s been a lot of fun.”
Young volunteers are essential to the stand’s operation, Murray said. “Kids work for eight hours, it doesn’t look like it bothers them. You send a 45-year-old in here for eight hours, they walk out of here with a limp.”
Sam Pawlowski, a 17-year-old member of the church, said, “I love it. I’ll do it every year.” He said he’d already put in 60 hours so far. His grandfather, Ken Ferguson, is one of the stand’s organizers.
“We’re the last food stand that’s organized by a church,” Kristen Kouba said. “It’s hard, it’s a lot of work to organize this, to set up the stand, to plan the food, to find the volunteers, but we all love it. We love our little corner here at the fair. We love seeing everybody every year. We get a lot of repeat customers, and visiting with people and just sharing the fellowship with everybody that comes to the fair.”
Can the last church food stand standing make it to 100 years?
“We’ll see, I mean, that’s still 25 to go,” Kouba said. “It would be great if we could.”
My other work can be found on my website, Iowa Highway Ends, and its blog.
I am proud to be part of the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative. If you’re interested in commentary by some of Iowa’s best writers, please follow your choice of Collaborative members:
Thanks! We ate there today!