Vendor gears up for Iowa State Fair with balls made with love by grandmas

Date:2025-07-31 23:29:07 Category:US Views:2 Comment:0

DES MOINES, Iowa — With the Iowa State Fair just over a week away, food vendors are lining up their ingredients and preparing for their biggest spread of the year.

The Bacon Box is preparing for its sixth year along the Grand Concourse.

“In our first year, we thought we’d sell 20,000 meatballs,” says co-owner, Brad Magg. “We quickly ran out and had to beg for help making more of them just to get through the rest of the Fair.”

Since then, Magg has quit taking chances.

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At his home catering kitchen outside Colfax, a group of seven senior ladies gathers around a stainless steel island of ingredients.

“This year, we’re doing ‘double-bacon-cheeseburger balls,’” says Magg.

Chatting and laughing as they work, this sort of culinary sewing circle of women (ranging from their 60s to their 80s) assembles the cheese-stuffed meatballs, wraps them in uncooked bacon, and then slides full trays into the freezer at a fast yet precise pace.

“This is fun!” says Jewell Gullett, a friend of Magg’s family, smiling over her blue apron. “What else do retired people have to do?” she laughs.

Over the course of two weeks, the ladies (plus Magg’s uncle) will assemble not just every meatball to be sold at The Bacon Box, but also bake its delectable pecan pies. Then starting next week, they’ll work the stand itself, charming customers and beaming over their reactions.

“They’re going ‘this is so good!’” Gullett exclaims. “And the bacon’s just falling off on (the meatballs). Yeah — you know they’re enjoying it.”

Magg says a food stand at the fair is far less lucrative than most people imagine. For him and partner Dom Iannerelli, it’s a passion project that pays for itself in personal connections made over eleven long days of work.

“What’s better than walking by a stand and seeing a loveable, smiling grandma smiling at you, offering a sample?” he says. “I think that’s part of the reason why people like coming to our stand is because it’s like family.”

Starting August 7th, you’ll find The Bacon Box across from the Grandstand, just north of the Varied Industries Building at the Iowa State Fair.