FLAVOR: Fair busy time for family concessionaires

Refreshments at the annual chuckwagon races in Clinton.
Refreshments at the annual chuckwagon races in Clinton.

— A brightly lit Ferris wheels, rotating late into the night, serves as a beacon to passersby, and the sounds of piped carnival music and screaming ridegoers cause cars on the highway to slow down. This is fair time across the land, and all smells at the Lonoke County Fair lead to W&M Concessions, known far and wide for its traditional and tasty fair food.

Wesley and Melissa Underwood of Cabot own the food concession trailer parked on the fairgrounds today through Saturday evening. They and their family have been serving the area for 17 years, and if you have a hankering for corn dogs, onion blossoms, nachos or hand-squeezed lemonade, then you know where to head once you get there.

“We were really young when we started,” Melissa said. The couple met as teenage employees at Fred’s in Cabot. “It was the first job for both of us. I was actually a cashier, and he was a stock boy.”

Working side by side would become the norm for the young couple.

Wesley, a department manager for Wal-Mart, came up with the idea of the business. He had a business management degree, Melissa said, so although she thought he was crazy, she knew he was capable of developing a business.

“We just jumped in with both feet,” she said. “I was 21, and he was 23 when we started.”

At the time, both of them had full-time jobs. She worked as a pharmacy technician. Both sets of parents and two brothers pitched in.

The Underwoods began with two mobile Hawaiian shaved-ice stands in 1993.

“We went to our first festival, but when school starts back, the season is pretty much over for shaved ice, so my husband came home and announced he wanted to buy a food-concession trailer,” Melissa said.

“My husband pretty much designed the whole signage and everything because I was eight months pregnant when he started the project, and I couldn’t help with the event,” she added.

Baby Lauren was born March 21, only days before the Mountain View Folk Festival, the couple’s first scheduled event.

“I was nursing, and I had to go to the truck and take care of that,” Melissa said. “It was really difficult. And then the second time I was pregnant (with Logan), I was working the Ozark Folk Festival in October. I had this huge belly, and I remember chopping onions, and people didn’t stop coming. I was tearing up because I had to go to the restroom, and I was tired.”

After the birth of their first child, Melissa decided to stay home and raise the children.

“The concession stand really does supplement the family income now that my paycheck is gone,” she said.

The business is hard work, she said.

“You see a lot of people coming into the business and not staying. You have to be dedicated, and you have to have good people skills,” she said. Another challenge is getting into the shows, she said, “because you have to have a good and unique product. When we started, there wasn’t near the competition there is nowadays.”

Even when you’re not working, you’re working, she said.

“You have to clean, buy supplies and clean again. You’re always getting ready for the next event.”

The hard work is worth it, Melissa said. “We are a big, happy family, and we get to work together, plus, we see different things from one part of the state to the other.”

Wesley agreed.

“The regular job is the same old, same old every day. We get to see different people and different towns this way.”

The concession work dries up by the first of November.

“We don’t want to go out of state,” Melissa said. The couple have a busy lineup staying local, however. They’ve worked The Chuckwagon Races in Clinton for 15 years, Toad Suck Daze in Conway, Riverfest in Little Rock and the Hope Watermelon Festival, to name a few.

Most of the festivals are held in the heat of the summer or before cooler temperatures have had a chance to become permanent, she said.

“I tell you, when we got off the freeway in Arkadelphia this year on our way to the Hope Watermelon Festival, our thermostat in the car said it was 118 degrees.

“It gets really hot sometimes, and the only cure is to drink a lot of lemonade.”

One benefit of their longtime business is that once you get into a festival, you’re pretty much invited year after year, Melissa said.

“And in the case of the Chuckwagon Races, they don’t allow other vendors with the same type product as yours come in.”

The couple devised their menu, patterning it after popular food of the day and tried-and-true items.

“The onion blossom had just come out at restaurants, and so we thought we’d try something different,” Melissa said. “It’s one of our best sellers.” They also sell corn dogs, fresh-squeezed lemonade and nachos.

“If you’re not afraid to work, this business can become as much as you want it to. It’s very rewarding,” she said.

The family is deep into local fairs and festivals even when they’re not working.

“We always went to the state fair when we were dating,” Melissa said. “We still like to go to stuff like that because it’s fun, and our kids love it, too.”

Readers who mention this article will receive a complimentary drink with any food purchase at W&M Concessions during the Lonoke County Fair.

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