There’s new food booth at fair

What’s the story behind the new Thomas Junction food booth?

That’s been one of the most popular questions at the fair as the former Warren County Youth Baseball food booth has a new owner.

The booth was bought by the family of Thomas Davenport, who is in need of kidney surgery. The booth gets its name because a grandson in the family is a big fan of Thomas the Train.

‘We hope to raise money for his kidney surgery,’ said Linda Cooper, who will be operating the booth with her four brothers, four sisters, and a number of other family members. ‘But after that, we plan on keeping it. This is ours now ‘ win, lose or draw.’

Cooper said her family has felt the effects of over 3,300 manufacturing jobs leaving the county over the past seven years with the closing of Carrier, A.O. Smith, Findlay and others.

‘A lot of my family members have lost their jobs,’ said Cooper. ‘So this will be a way to help them out. There seems to be a lot of retirees moving in here, but there aren’t a lot of jobs coming in.’

Fair bylaws allow private individuals to buy a food booth if it has not been used for one year. The youth baseball league has been trying to sell the booth for three or four years, according to fair president Steve Grandey.

‘Community organizations are our first choice,’ said Grandey. ‘But no one wanted it and it’s been sitting empty for two years. We’re not going to have people standing three deep to get a seat at a food booth while we have one sitting empty. There’s no reason for that.’

Grandey says he believes more booths will go private in upcoming years.

‘It’s harder and harder to get volunteers,’ he said. ‘It’s one of those things about the fair that’s going to change.’

Grandey said booths are priced based on square footage. The booth owner is in charge of maintenance, while the fair keeps possession of the property.

Cooper says her family has fair booth experience. She said last year Newtown was gracious enough to donate the use of its booth to the family so family members could help pay for a funeral.

‘We’ve been here for the last two weeks getting this place ready,’ said one of the sisters, Patricia Davenport. ‘We’re ready for the rush.’