Photo by Howard Owens.
For the second year in a row, Genesee County Legislator Chad Klotzbach apparently drew the short straw when volunteering to man the Chuckwagon at the county fair Tuesday.
After all, he was positioned in the hottest spot in the house — at the fryer. While his colleagues took orders, served drinks, flipped burgers and hotdogs on the grill and handled the incoming cash at the front, Klotzbach dropped baskets of fries into hot steamy vats of oil.
“I have no idea what I’m doing,” he jokingly said. “If it’s still frozen, then it’s not cooked enough, and if it’s burnt, then it’s overcooked.”
The group of legislators participated in the fair parade and then marched off to their designated corners to hustle up food for hungry fair-goers. The lines never seemed to slow down during their shift from 7 to 10 p.m.
Every now and then, Legislature Chairwoman Shelley Stein would yell out “ding, ding, ding” when a patron stuffed a tip into their jar, which was full of dollar bills.
County Clerk Lisa Casey was busy crushing Doritos and adding lettuce, tomatoes, meat and sauce. “I’m taco in a bag,” she said of her role, and “nachos.”
While the group was raking in the dough during the evening, it wasn’t going into their own pockets.
“We do this to support the fair and the organization that makes money for programs for Genesee County agriculture,” Legislator Marianne Clattenburg said, answering The Batavian’s question of who works the hardest out of their group. “I have no idea who works the hardest. I think Chad has the hardest job. We're all one big well-oiled machine this year.”
With about 90 minutes down, and 90 more to go, she could attest to it being “busy and hot like it was last year.” It was more difficult to get a few words out of Legislator John Deleo, as every few moments, he received orders for drinks, mostly chilled Gatorades and a few Blue Lights.
In assembly line fashion, someone next to the cooler — an increasingly familiar face in Western New York — grabbed the drinks and handed them off to Deleo, who then delivered them to the front-end workers. This group just wanted to help out the fair, he said.
“It’s kind of our contribution to help out, to keep the pressure on, and if you notice every year it's getting better and better,” he said, interrupting his train of thought for more drinks, one being recommended that goes good with the fried dough. “There's a lot of volunteers here, which really helped the community and everything. So if you notice, it used to be the churches they don't do that. So now this is the big community get-together. But it's good to see a lot of people here that you do know, and it's always good.”
Wait a minute, was that George Borrello (R, C) representing the 57th Senate District, slinging chuckwagon grub behind the counter and helping to serve cold drinks from the cooler? Yes. He came here for the parade, to see some 4-H kids, livestock and other fairgrounds action.
“And I thought I'd jump back and help out the county legislators here, and I'm a public servant. I can also serve french fries and hot dogs. Obviously, agriculture's there as well. First of all, not only am I the state senator, but I'm also the ranking member of the Senate Agriculture Committee. So agriculture is the biggest industry in New York State,” he said. “And fairs like the Genesee County Fair help highlight agriculture and the importance it is to our economy. So, I think it's great to be here. There are a lot of people that come to the fair that may not have a chance to go to a farm or to understand what it's like to raise animals to care for animals.
“You know, people don't know where their food comes from. So something like Genesee County Fair really teaches people a lot about the food chain and the important standard culture of our economy,” Borrello said.
All of the proceeds from the legislators’ work, including that fat stuffed tip jar, will go to the Genesee County Ag Society. There was one more important question for the evening, though. How’d they do? Did it pass the muster of hungry appetites?
Doug and Sharon Houseknecht are regulars at the fair — they’ve been going for nearly each of their 49 years of marriage, mostly to see the parade and animals; some friends have cows there, and “we come to support them,” Sharon said.
They sat underneath the green and white food tent next to the Chuckwagon after just finishing their meal. There were fries left in Doug’s container, and he questioned that they were supposed to be a "small." So serving size? Generous.
How about taste?
“We eat at the same spot every year,” Sharon said as Doug answered how their dinner was. “It was great.”
Photo by Howard Owens.
Photo by Howard Owens.
Photo by Howard Owens.
Photo by Howard Owens.
Photo by Joanne Beck.
Editor's Note: The Batavian has a booth at the fair in partnership with WBTA as part of the official Genesee County Fair Media Center. Stop by to say hello and enter our eagle-drawing contest in the Exhibition Building. We are an exhibitor and are providing coverage of the fair all week long as a proud supporter of the county fair, 4-H and the dedicated volunteers of the Ag Society.
If you appreciate our fair coverage, as well as all of our coverage of Genesee County, you can help us continue news coverage by signing up today for Early Access Pass.
