CO-OP PEOPLE
Popping along The Pence family of concessionaires has fed fairgoers for more than a century. STORY AND PHOTOS BY DAMAINE VONADA
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ne 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.
10 OHIO COOPERATIVE LIVING • APRIL 2022
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.
