Funnels cakes, corn on the cob, deep-fried curly fries, navajo tacos, corn dogs and lemonades were spread out on the checkered table-cloth covered tables.
While some of the residents at the Mission at Castle Rock Rehabilitation Center were eating, others were still waiting for their food or drinks.
“I have the most awesome place to work because we get to do this kind of stuff with the residents,” CRRC social services director Marilyn Dockter said.
On Thursday, a group of 17 CRRC residents and all of employees and volunteers helping them were gathered around tables at Wyoming’s Big Show to eat.
Dockter said for the first time, CRRC residents were allowed to get whatever fair food they wanted.
“A couple of them, all they wanted was funnel cakes for lunch.” Dockter said. “We only get fair food once a year.”
The best part was all of it was paid for through fundraising the CRRC conducted prior to the fair.
“They don’t have to pay a dime for it,” Dockter said.
Activities director Heidi Schuh said the residents were having such a great time and adding fair food to the mix was just a great idea.
“It’s been a real treat for them.” Schuh said. “It was a little more time consuming then what they thought, but totally worth it.”
One change Schuh said will have to be made if they are going to continue offering fair food to CRRC residents, is they will need to work with the venders ahead of time to have all of their orders ready to go. With such a large group, it was taking a while to get all of the food.
When the residents were not busy eating, they were taking in all the fair had to offer including the petting zoo, 4-H barns, exhibits and vendors.
“The animals are the highlight of the fair for them,” Dockter said.
One of the residents, Malinda Carter, was excited to see her great granddaughter’s pigs she was also thankful for the children volunteers who pushed her and other residents wheelchairs around the fair all day.
“We enjoyed seeing the goats and the big bull,” Carter said.
Another CRRC residents Vivian Sargent, who was enjoying eating a corn on the cob, said she was a bit ashamed of herself for not going to the fair sooner.
“I’ve never been here to see this nice place we have,” Sargent said. “I think this is wonderful.”
CRRC resident Lillian Sanders, who was enjoying a funnel cake, said she hadn’t been to the fair in many years. The last time she was at the fair, she just remembered it being really hard to walk or push a wheelchair around in the dirt.
They hadn’t seen all of the improvements made to the fairgrounds to prepare it for the National High School Finals Rodeo, which included huge, white, tent structures put up and concrete or asphalt poured throughout the fairgrounds.
These improvements made it a lot easier for the residents to get around on their wheel chairs, Sanders said.
“This is really expensive looking,” Sanders said.
Sanders, Sargent were not the only CRRC residents impressed with the fair and all it had to offer. Many were already thinking about what they would do at next year’s fair.
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