CO-OP PEOPLE

Popping along

The Pence family of concessionaires has fed fairgoers for more than a century.

STORY AND PHOTOS BY DAMAINE VONADA

One of Michael Pence’s earliest memories dates to the 1950s, when he traveled to the Indiana State Fair with his parents to sell popcorn. He was only 5 years old at the time — but his daughter, Leslie, got her start in the family’s mobile concessionaire business at an even younger age. “I went to my first fair in 1971,” says Leslie Pence. “It was a street fair in Auburn, Indiana, and I was 2 days old.” The week before she was born, Michael and his wife, Etta, had worked a fair in nearby Bluffton, where the mom-to-be also bought Leslie’s baby clothes. Today, Michael, Etta, Leslie, and Michael’s brother, Kevin Pence, own and operate Pence’s Concessions from their headquarters at Pence’s Carmel Corn Shoppe (they use the old-fashioned spelling without the second “a”), a multipurpose manufacturing, distribution, and concession trailer facility that sits along U.S. 6 near Bryan, Ohio. Serviced by North Western Electric, the shop encompasses a kitchen as well as a year-round retail store. When customers step inside, they’re sure to notice two things: the irresistible aroma of freshly made popcorn and multiple generations of the Pence family busily doing everything from pouring kernels into a popping machine to stocking the shelves. The Pences produce 18 different kinds of popcorn in flavors ranging from tried-andtrue cheese and kettle corn to trendy chocolate mint and banana pudding popcorn, yet caramel corn remains their signature popcorn and a perennial bestseller.

Pence family members inside Pence’s Carmel Corn Shoppe (from left): Alexis Stewart, baby Jameson Stewart, Leslie Pence, 3-year-old Emmalyn Stewart, Etta Pence, Easton Kime, and Michael Pence.

“We make the caramel corn from a secret family recipe, and a lot of people tell us they won’t buy any caramel corn but ours,” says Leslie. Pence’s Concessions originated in 1902, when Michael’s grandfather, Clarence Pence, started selling popcorn and peanuts from a pushcart at state fairs. Michael’s father, Don Pence, continued the business in homebuilt trailers that he towed to fairs and festivals. “My dad didn’t get a manufactured trailer until 1957,” recalls Michael. “I still have that trailer, but it doesn’t travel anymore because we use it for making candy.” In the 1980s, Michael decided to make the company’s concession trailers pink and green. “I picked that combination because I think it looks good and is very colorful,” he says. “Now people recognize those colors and associate them with Pence’s popcorn.” Beside popcorn, the Pences make and sell a complete menu of such fair-food favorites as candy apples, caramel apples, cotton candy, taffy, corn dogs, and both Italian sausage and Philly steak and cheese sandwiches. “My family has done a very good job of keeping up our quality and reputation,” says Leslie. “Everyone expects our products to be good.” Savvy fairgoers, for example, know that on a warm and sticky July afternoon, nothing is more refreshing than Pence’s fresh-squeezed lemonade. “We make it with real lemons, water, ice, and sugar, then shake it just enough,” says Leslie. From mid-spring through the summer, the shop serves as mission control for 18 concession trailers that rotate to and from county fairs, street fairs, and community festivals within a 120-mile radius of Bryan. Typical destinations include Holland, Michigan; Auburn, Indiana; and the Williams, Defiance, and Fulton county fairs in Ohio. Pence’s Concessions, in fact, is practically an institution at the Williams County Fair, which presented the company with an award for 108 years of service. By the time September rolls around, the Pences have dispatched trailers to events in Missouri, Kansas, and Arkansas, and during the winter, they go to expos and fairs in Florida.

“We’re never in one location for more than two weeks,” says Leslie, “so we get to experience big cities, small towns, and differences in regional tastes and cultures.” As it turns out, those differences include candy apples. “We make the coating for our candy apples from scratch with cinnamon flavoring, but once we get south of Cincinnati, customers want them without any flavoring at all,” says Leslie. Since Leslie’s daughter, Alexis Stewart, works alongside Etta making candy apples, fudge, peanut brittle, and, of course, popcorn, for the retail store, Pence’s Concessions proudly claims five generations of continuous family involvement. Make that six generations, if you count Leslie’s 3-year-old granddaughter, Emmalyn Stewart, who likes to taste test the cotton candy. “For us, this isn’t just a job,” Leslie says. “It’s our life.” Pence’s Carmel Corn Shoppe, 10010 U.S. 6, Bryan, OH 43506. 419-636-0888 or 877-8296127, www.pencescarmelcorn.com.

Rootin’, tootin’ & shootin’

Co-op member lives the life of an Old West cowboy.

STORY AND PHOTOS BY DAMAINE VONADA

When Jerry Swank married his wife, Carolyn, in 2003, he wore a rancherstyle felt hat, boots with spurs, and three replicas of the legendary Colt .45 single-action Army revolver that helped tame the American West.

The newlyweds left the ceremony in a white, vis-à-vis carriage pulled by a Percheron mare, and their guests gave them quite a sendoff. “We had 180 people at the wedding, and since about 60 of them carried guns loaded with blanks, we had quite the salute,” Swank says. Of course Swank would have a Western-style wedding, given his favorite pastime: He’s been a decades-long devotee of cowboy action shooting, a timed, targetshooting sport that utilizes the guns of the Old West. “I compete with single-action

revolvers, a lever-action pistol-caliber rifle, and a shotgun that was designed before 1899,” he says. Swank and his wife are South Central Power Company members who reside on 81 acres of farmland in the Hocking Hills. His interest in guns began when he was growing up in the Middletown area. He was introduced to shooting sports as a member of the Boy Scouts and while hunting with his father, and learned Western riding because his parents and grandparents kept horses. As an adult, he worked in sales, but he also parlayed his knack for riding and training horses into a carriage ride business in downtown Columbus.

Swank first heard about cowboy action shooting in the early 1990s. “I was reading a car magazine and saw an advertisement about a shooting club starting in central Ohio,” he recalls. Soon after, Swank became a founding member of the Scioto Territory Desperados — he served as its president for several years. “Now we have members from all around the state,” Swank says. The club holds matches at the Cardinal Center shooting range near Marengo. The Scioto Territory Desperados is an affiliate of the Single Action Shooting Society (SASS), an Indiana-based organization that promotes cowboy action shooting and serves as the sport’s governing body. “A single-action gun can only be fired after it has been manually cocked,” explains Swank, who is a SASS life member. At shooting events, SASS requires contestants to convey the history and traditions of the post-Civil War and cattle-drive eras by donning period outfits and adopting Old West aliases. Names of real people — such as Bat Masterson or Jesse James — were taken early on after the club started, so most Desperados these days simply invent their own aliases, such as “Bushwacker Al,” “Stagecoach Hannah,” and “I.B. Gunninferya.” Swank chose “Lucky Levi Loving” for his moniker. “Levi” is simply a Western-sounding version of his given middle name, Lee, but he borrowed “Loving” from a cattle driver who made history. “Oliver Loving helped develop the Goodnight-Loving Trail that went from Texas to Montana,” Swank says. As for Western get-ups, Swank habitually looks like he just stepped out of the O.K. Corral. “I’ve been in boots and blue jeans my whole life,” he says, “so dressing cowboy is easy for me.” Besides cavalry-style bib shirts and his star-shaped SASS badge, Swank sports a handsome handlebar mustache that would have made Wyatt Earp proud. “My mustache used to be long enough to reach my ears, but now I just use a little wax to keep it neat and curled,” he says. Swank chose “Lucky Levi Loving” for his Old West moniker. “Levi” is simply a Westernsounding version of Swank’s given middle name, Lee, but he borrowed “Loving” from a cattle driver who made history.

For many years, Swank had a home-based business — appropriately called Lucky Levi’s Leather — where he crafted shooting gear and accessories. “If it’s leather, I’ve made it,” he says. “I did gun belts, holsters, chaps, spur straps, scabbards, and even saddlebags.” Items Swank made for himself include concealed-carry suspenders for his Derringer as well as right-hand and left-hand holsters for the pair of Ruger Vaquero revolvers that he often takes to competitions. “They’re slightly larger versions of the historic Colt .45 and have scrimshaw on the handles,” he says. “One side shows a cowboy on a bucking horse, and the other has double L’s for Lucky Levi.” Swank closed his leather shop earlier this year, however, and now has set his sights on a retirement career as a certified health coach. Of course, since old cowboys never die, he aims to keep reloading as a cowboy action shooter. “One reason I got rid of the shop is that it cut into my shooting time too much,” Swank says. “I even lost 165 pounds so I could get on a horse and continue to shoot.” For more information, visit www.sciotodesperados.com.

reader recipe contest Salads

When you think of “salad,” what comes to mind?

A bowl of chopped iceberg lettuce with a glop of dressing on top? A can of tuna mixed with a heaping spoonful of mayo? A giant bowl of colorful, cut-up fruit? For our 2022 Ohio Cooperative Living reader recipe contest, we’re looking for your most delicious SALAD! Whether it’s extra-healthy or more on the decadent side, we want to hear all about it! The grand-prize winner will receive an Ohio-made KitchenAid stand mixer. Two runners-up will receive consolation gifts.

Entry deadline is April 15, 2022! Ground rules

• Entrants must be electric cooperative members or residents of an electric cooperative household. • Entries may be submitted by email to memberinteract@ ohioec.org; uploaded to www.ohiocoopliving.com/ memberinteractive; or mailed to Catherine Murray, c/o

Ohio Cooperative Living, 6677 Busch Blvd., Columbus,

OH 43229. Limit of three recipes per entrant. • To enter, write down your recipe, including all ingredients and measurements, directions, and number of servings. Then tell us the basic story behind your recipe — is it a family tradition, passed down through generations? Or did you make it up one day out of thin air? A good back story can never hurt! • On each recipe, include your name and address, a phone number and email address where you can be contacted, and the name of your electric cooperative. • Submissions may be an original recipe or one adapted from an existing recipe published elsewhere, with at least three distinct changes from the published version. • Winners will be featured in the August issue of Ohio

Cooperative Living.

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