Combined Veterans 'Get the Boot' as Beer Tent Vendors at the Fair

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Brenda Jefferson, office manager of the Combined Illinois Veterans Association, said it wasn't until she inquired about the association's long-standing contract with the Illinois Department of Agriculture for beer concessions at the Du Quoin State Fair that she found out the department was going to take bids on the concessions this year. She got the "invitation to bid" on July 3 and had until July 11 to respond.

A few days later the Combined Illinois Veterans were notified that a new one-year contract had been awarded to Alongi's of Du Quoin. "We got the boot," Jefferson said.

On Tuesday, Brenda, her beer sales supervisor Bernie Johnson, assistant sales supervisor Les Nejedly and Shirley Cornelius were loading beer coolers, filing cabinets, boxes of cups and cashier windows onto a semi-tractor trailer to head back to Springfield.

"They (the fair) gave us our sign off the door which says 'CVA Office', I guess as a remembrance," said Jefferson.

She pointed to a well-worn wooden tabletop cashier's cage which "we paid to have made" and added. The fair says otherwise. "The fair said we could have the rest of them for $160 apiece. We found that out this morning."

They left all but one behind. It was probably the bitterness talking.

John Alongi, Sr. said it was just as much of a shock to his family as to the veterans that the Illinois Department of Agriculture was making a change. In the days following the award that belief rings true. For whatever reason the association had fallen from favor with the Department of Agriculture. They face the same problem at the Illinois State Fair in Springfield as their contract ends in 2012. The veterans have six concession areas there. Here they had the beer tent and the grandstand.

Jefferson said other bidders included Jim Espy of Trogolo Enterprises, which at one time owned the Perfection Club restaurant in Du Quoin and has provided some of the concessions at the Southern Illinois Center and Stanley Tripp, who owns a downtown lounge in Du Quoin. Others inquired, but never bid.

The Alongis certainly know the food and beverage service business.

"We only know how to do things one way," John Alongi, Sr. told the newspaper during a casual conversation about the contract last week. It will be a lot of work, but he has no doubt about his family being able to handle beer concessions in the popular beer tent and in the grandstand.

After all, the Alongi family first sold beer on the grounds during the Bill Hayes ownership of the fair. He said at the time it was never about turning the fair into a beer concession. It was about making beer available to enhance the fair experience for families and friends. The bands and singers all came later.

When the State of Illinois purchased the fair in 1986, Gov. Jim Thompson awarded the beer concession to the Combined Illinois Veterans both at Springfield and Du Quoin, with an eye toward the group's good deeds and contributions to various veterans causes.

Over the years, few have been able to get an accounting of how the proceeds were spent, but faith in the association that it was doing what it said continued. Nejedly had a sheet which listed the charities. Jefferson said for some veterans organizations it was a major source of their income. Others disagree.

"The veterans said they lost money last year. If that's the case why did they want it (a new contract) so bad," commented one bidder.

John Alongi said his family has already heard from several local organizations that want to help at the fair.

He said the family will make donations to all of them and that the community will see that the money is staying in Southern Illinois. The Alongi contract is for one year and John admits the family will have to be careful about the investment in equipment and fixtures for one year. "We haven't signed a contract yet," said Alongi.

As members of the combined veterans sat in their old office and talked about their run in Du Quoin they say it's no longer as easy to raise the kind of money they once raised. They said the pavilion that houses the beer tent costs over $19,000 for the 10 days of the fair. The City of Du Quoin raised its temporary liquor license to over $5,000 for the 10 days. Mayor John Rednour said when he raised the license fee he asked the Combined Veterans to open up their books as to what the money went to.

He said they never did.

They have to provide liability insurance and dram shop insurance as well as purchase all of the product and supplies. While the vendor doesn't have to sponsor the beer tent entertainment, Nejedly and Johnson said they sometimes contributed to it.