News for Senate District 66
	Online Extra! January 2006

A Short History of the Donut Booth

presented at the SD 66 DFL meeting, by Jack Barlow and Marc Asch

When It Began

There is some disagreement as to the starting date for the booth, but Joan Cooper believes it was in 1958. Mark and Joan were involved in the booth for three years before they moved to East Grand Forks in June of 1961 where they lived until January of 1964. While living in East Grand Forks, Joan’s husband Mark Cooper took a vacation each year to work at the fair in the 10^th Ward and Rural Ramsey County donut booth.

Who Founded It

The founders of the booth were Harold Koeck of Shoreview, chair of Rural Ramsey, and Bob Lindorfer of Saint Paul, chair of 10^th Ward according to Joan Cooper and Les Krumm. Harold and Bob put up their own money to secure a spot at the fair.

The Idea

The idea to use the State Fair as a fundraiser to help elect legislative candidates probably came from Nick Snyder whose Dad owned a popcorn stand at the fair. Charlie Fletcher knew the Hansons who sold Tom Thumb Donuts at the Fair. They agreed to rent one of their machines to the Donut Booth and also to sell them shortening and donut flour. The Donut Booth also sold hot apple cider, coffee, and mini donuts out of a rented tent. 16 mini-donuts sold for $0.25 and $4,965 was the first year sales. The original location was on machinery hill. With the assistance of the Snyder’s who own the German Root Beer stand, the present location was secured.

The Booth Over Time

• 1964, the first 10 by 12 booth was built in the Cooper’s front yard by the Coopers, Krumms, Lindorfers, Fribergs, Koecks and Snyders. It is now in Joan Cooper’s back yard. Initially, the water in the booth was cold.
• 1974, the second red white and blue building was built and used through the 1994 fair. It was demolished because the fair required us to buy a new and larger trailer.
• In 1995, the booth committee purchased a 12 by 18 foot Shantz trailer. The mortgage for the trailer was personally taken out and signed by Jack Barlow and Harold Anderson since the Donut Booth committee was not credit worthy.

The Machines

• 1958, the first donut machines were rented from Tom Thumb.
• Mid-1960s, Tinker Bells were the first machines purchased. They used air to move the donuts.
• 1988, we started using seven Golden Goods.
• About 1993, Lil’ Orbits were the next machines. They were very fussy.
• 1995, we switched to Belshaws after Jack Barlow discovered them being used at the Mall of America. Jack Friberg our mechanic went and confirmed Jack’s feeling that these were the best machine for our need. We started with two Belshaws that were part of the mortgage.

Organization

We created a corporation to enable us to buy insurance for our board members, volunteers and employees.

Financial Overview

The new booth and new donut machines have in the last ten years earned 1.65 times what was earned in the first 37 years (62% of revenue was raised in the last 10 years, 38% in the first 36 years.)

The trailer and equipment are an investment of around $114,0000 dollars.

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SD 66 newsletter designed by Lee Ann Owens. Web page adaptation by Hal Keen.