You scream, I scream, we all scream for ice cream. Since 1970, the Salem Mennonite church has been churning out homemade ice cream at the Turner County fair. It started with the youth group. It was a way for them to raise money for funding youth convention trips and summer service trips. Through the years the youth group got smaller. They did not need all the money they made so they started giving it to local charities and to some of the organizations they had done service trips to. As of last year, they were gifting over 50 % of their income away.
This year is the first year it is a whole church-run booth. The numbers in the youth group had dwindled to the point it made it necessary to turn it over to the church. The youth still work and help with the ice cream booth. They still get money for their trips and service projects.
Well, I found out about the who and why concerning the ice cream booth. Now I needed to know how. How does an organization make enough ice cream in four days at the fair to feed so many people? It starts with 2 five-gallon electric ice cream makers. With that, they can make 1,100 gallons of ice cream is 244 batches of ice cream in four days. Talking with Brad Carlson, he explained it takes 366 gallons of whole milk, 244 ½ gallons of cream, and 20 pounds of powdered eggs. Along with all of that, it takes 1,000 pounds of salt and 4,000 pounds of ice.
Watching the process of making the ice cream I marveled how they made it look so easy and simple even though it was not. Scores of people walked by that afternoon. Buying their own bit of happiness, a scoop of homemade ice cream in a Styrofoam dish and a plastic spoon. My memories of the Turner County fair center around most of the food that seems to have become traditions. It is why year after year the fair does so well. People come hungry to the fair. They know what awaits them. Good people serving great food during the 4 best days of summer.
