70 years of fair food for a good cause

Tommy Highsmith has been selling food at the State Fair since the 194Os - not for profit, but to support outreach programs at the Westover United Methodist Church in Raleigh.

“This has been a major fundraiser for us since the church was started in the 1940s,” said Highsmith, who grew up within sight of the fairgrounds. “That’s about the only thing that hasn’t changed.”

Today, church volunteers prepare ham biscuits, hot dogs, cheeseburgers and other foods on restaurant-sized griddles. Back in the early days, Highsmith recalled, “the women would bake pound cakes, brownies and other desserts at home and bring them here in baskets. They’d usually sell about half of what they had before they made it to our little cubicle with the flags flying on top.”

He remembers joining the large crowds at the railroad tracks on the Sunday night before the fair when the rides and exhibits would arrive. “The fair only lasted four and half days then,” he said. “When it closed midnight Saturday they’d take about two weeks to take everything down and clean up and then lock up the fairgrounds until the next year. Not like today where they have something going on everyday.”

As a child he loved the midget auto racing. When he got a little older, he would sneak a peak at the “hoochie-coochie shows they used to have here.”

These days he spends most of his time with the other church volunteers. The fair booth is their major fundraiser, usually clearing about $20,000 for outreach ministries, a rescue mission, programs for the handicapped and other charitable efforts.

“We’re a little down this year, maybe 8 percent,” Highsmith said. “But the mood is always good at the fair.”