Farm show food a hit

GIFFORD – The Gordyville farm show is all about the food. Just ask those who serve it.

Many of the agricultural businesses treat show attendees to free food – whether it’s an ice cream cone, cookie or popcorn. Hicksgas served warm chocolate chip cookies fresh off the grill both days of the show this week.

“We have Broilmaster grills available for order. We can actually order anything that you find in our books among many other things we have in our store,” said Tim Brown, district manager for Hicksgas.

This was Brown’s fifth year dishing out cookies for those attending Midwest Ag Expo. Hicksgas has done this for many years – even before Brown’s time. According to Brown, you can go up and down any country road and usually see a Hicksgas tank.

For more on Hicksgas, call 217-367-5456 or visit www.hicksgas.com.

The staff of Gifford State Bank wasn’t far away serving up popcorn to hungry farmers. The bank has served popcorn here for about 13 years and doesn’t plan to quit anytime soon.

“It’s actually really hard to keep up most of the time to make enough popcorn. We’ve got just a standard popper,” admits Andy Burh, vice president of ag lending at Gifford State Bank.

This is the main show the bank participates in. They go through about 600 bags of popcorn, using quite a bit of salt and oil.

Birkey’s Farm Store was among the growing list of exhibitors serving goodies. This was their first year serving caramel corn and they saw a lot of foot traffic through their display area.

“We can’t stay ahead of it and can’t make it fast enough,” said Steve Jones, who works in parts.

One can’t miss attraction includes the Ken’s Oil Service booth which serves up fresh ice cream cones made with homemade ice cream. Ken’s also has a display during the Prairie Central FFA Farm and Home Show each February in Forrest. The folks from Ken’s were too busy to talk, but take our word for it: the ice cream cones are excellent.