Historic Farm Days food court offers up full menu

PENFIELD, Ill. — From drinks to desserts, breakfast, lunch and supper, the food court at Historic Farm Days is back with a full menu.

Thirteen vendors will offer everything from bottled water to breakfast, lunch, dinner and snack items, along with drinks and desserts.

“We are really fortunate that we have worked with the same people for so long that we don’t even have a contract. I just don’t have people who drop out,” said Debbie Deremiah, food vendor coordinator for the Historic Farm Days show.

This year, one new addition will offer a simple, but much welcome item — bottled water.

“We will have a hydration station. All they sell is bottled water. That really helps us out if those temperatures go up,” Deremiah said.

This year’s celebration of John Deere — scheduled July 13-16 at the I & I Antique Tractor and Gas Engine Club Showgrounds in Penfield — also will see two new vendors in the food court lineup.

“We added two vendors because we think, with the John Deere anniversary, there will be added interest in the show,” Deremiah said.

The Royal Rangers, a church-based youth group for boys and young men, from the Living Word Family Church in St. Joe, will be serving cheeseburgers. Proceeds go to fund trips and activities.

A second new vendor, the House of Brisket, a food truck based in Paris, will be serving up brisket and all the sides during the show.

The Pork Palace, the I & I Club Auxiliary stand, will once again be serving up its famous smoked pork sandwiches. The Pork Palace has been in business during the show for over 20 years, Deremiah said.

Breakfast offerings will include sausage and pancakes and biscuits and gravy from Jojo’s Grill.

“They also have warm cinnamon buns, heated up, full of frosting, that are very popular with our morning breakfast crowd,” Deremiah said.

Another popular menu item is ribbon fries from Grumpy’s.

“He deep fries them and then he has probably around 20 or so toppings so you can build your own ribbon fries,” Deremiah said.

Grumpy’s also offers flavored iced teas.

“People are ready for something different than soda and so the flavored ice teas are always a hit,” Deremiah said.

Mom and Pop’s Popcorn will be serving up popcorn.

“They will be there from the first day through the whole show and they will be open for the tractor pulls,” Deremiah said.

The Sidney Dairy Barn, with their familiar black-and-white RV, will be serving up ice cream.

Grandpa’s Ice Cream, which features ice cream churned by a vintage motor, will be serving up the familiar frozen treat, as well.

The showgrounds offer plenty of seating for diners.

“We have a 20-foot-by-40-foot tent that is just loaded with picnic tables and our food court area has nice shade trees so it works out great,” Deremiah said.

For more information, visit www.historicfarmdays.com.