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Rain fell steadily Wednesday and Thursday, then tapered off in time for the Lakefair queen coronation Thursday night. Although skies were overcast Friday, it did not rain for most of the day.
“Today looks like it’s supposed to look like,” said Pete Pease, co-chairman of fair facilities, about the increase in customer traffic Friday. He acknowledged that the first two days were slowed by wet weather.
The food vendors, mostly nonprofits and service clubs, line up on Water Street next to Heritage Park to sell hamburgers, hot roast beef sandwiches, curly fries and barbecued beef, pork and chicken.
The money raised by the various groups benefits other charities throughout South Sound, such as Safeplace, YWCA’s Other Bank and the Salvation Army.
Altrusa, a service club that sells elephant ears at the fair, sold $35,000 worth last year, said Bob Coker, who is in charge of setting up Altrusa’s food trailer. As a result of the rain, business was down about $1,500 from last year, he said.
“If the sun shows up, we can make it up,” Coker said.
Other vendor operators, too, said business was down but that they were keeping their fingers crossed for better weather this weekend.
Olympia Kiwanis has had a food booth at the fair for 20 years, and board member Jon Halvorson has been involved with it for 15 of those years, he said. The group sells hot roast beef sandwiches and typically nets about $10,000 for the week, although business is down about 40 percent this year.
The group’s best year at the fair was 2000, when it grossed about $27,000. Halvorson recalled that the weather was good that year and so was the economy.
Business at the Saint Martin’s University alumni association booth also was down, but not “horribly down,” said personnel director Andrew Oczkewicz. The alumni association sells curly fries and has been part of the fair since the late 1980s, he said.
About 200 volunteers work at the booth during Lakefair, he said. The group typically nets $10,000 to $12,000 for the week, money used for Saint Martin’s scholarships and other community events, he said.
Rodney O’Neill, perhaps best known for continuing his mother’s tradition of serving a free meal during Thanksgiving and Christmas, was busy at his own food booth serving up beef brisket and other barbecued favorites. He also is wowing customers with the Soul Burger, a quarter-pound hamburger topped with a Louisiana-style hot link sausage.
Barb’s BBQ has participated in the fair for five years. Although business was down, it picked up Friday, O’Neill said. This is not the first time that weather has curtailed attendance at Lakefair. Two years ago, soaring temperatures kept people away, while in 2007, a weeklong deluge drastically reduced attendance.
