Fuerst Family of Fairgrounds Food

They are the stuff of presidential campaign advertisers’ dreams.

A happy, close-knit family with capitalistic goals and creative vision. A family that traditionally recruits its fathers, mothers and children to work at the Los Angeles County Fair--an event dubbed “America’s Fair.”

They’d bring a tear to President Clinton’s eye and make Bob Dole proud to be an American. Even Ross Perot would have something to say about the Fuerst (pronounced first) family.

But the three-generation concessionaire clan doesn’t have time to think about their social impact or metaphorical purpose. They’ve got 13 food booths to run on the fairgrounds. They’re busy. So if you want to talk to any of them, make it quick.

Answering a personnel question over her walkie-talkie, Marsha Fuerst, 60, the family’s matriarch, stopped to explain--briefly--how she roped her husband and four children into the concession business 15 years ago:

After more than 20 years of taking their kids to the fair, Marsha suggested to her husband, Mike, that “it’d be neat” to own one of the many impermanent eating establishments the family frequented. A concessionaire, a Belgian waffle hawker known only as Red, overheard them and directed Marsha to an owner who was eager to sell. A few hours and a $500 deposit later, the “Mexican Food” stand was theirs.

Marsha emphasized the word “theirs.” Everything the Fuersts do, they do together. This includes Fuersts who married in for their membership: Spouses are not absolved from working the fair.

Over her walkie-talkie, Marsha’s youngest offspring, Mitchell, blurted a jargon-filled reassurance about the two walk-in refrigerators that the family owns at the fairgrounds.

The news was good, but Mitchell sounded tense. At first blush one would think the 27-year-old’s nervousness comes from his role as food buyer. After all, the Fuersts “Meet Me at the Fair” concession company is the second-largest food provider on the grounds, and coordinating the purchase of 20,000 pounds of chicken and 17,000 pounds of funnel cake mix is no easy task.

But that’s not why he was uptight. Mitchell’s always that way, according to his loved ones.

When they’re not at the fair, Marla and Mitchell work on the administrative end of Northwest Colleges, a group of vocational schools in the San Gabriel Valley headed by Marsha. Of the 180 employees the family hires to work the fairs, many are students from their schools. Some faculty members are also recruited. Even Northwest’s financial director can be seen hustling about the fairgrounds in an apron.

“Our lawyers, our bankers, everyone is flipping burgers for us,” Mitchell said.

With many hands and much work, the high-profile fair family increased its operations to 13 booths in 15 years and has an optimistic staff expansion plan: Marla, her sister Marnie Fuerst-Duenas, 31, and their brother Marc, 34, are all married with children--and Mitchell is engaged.

Manning his mother’s walkie-talkie, Marla’s son, Kyle, 10, takes a break from his job as coin-roller at the Mexican Food stand, the company’s “home.” Born Sept. 27, in the middle of the 1985 run, Kyle was literally raised with the fair. While his long-term goals are to become a scientist, make a million dollars and move to Hawaii, for now, he said, he’s dying to work the registers.

“I’m working at the Cowboy Coffee,” he started to say, but his grandmother’s voice came in over the walkie-talkie and interrupted. “Go ahead, Marsha,” he responded.

Unfazed by her grandson’s informality, Marsha relayed an order for Kyle to take care of later. He put down the walkie-talkie and turned back to Marla, trying to remember what he had to report. Unlike his elders, Kyle hasn’t yet learned the art of speaking to several people at once.

But his uncle Marc is sure he’ll catch on. “We weren’t raised,” he said. “We were trained.”