Sack the snack bar?

Borough ponders pool food sales. Pool members dislike vending machine option, favors “simplified” menu and traditional snack bar.

By PATRICK BURNS
Ephrata Borough officials are mulling over how to provide munchies at the Ephrata Community Pool this summer.

Steve Brown, owner of Lily’s on Main, chose not to renew the three-year pool snack bar contract that expired in 2014.
Borough efforts to hire a replacement to operate the snack bar have attracted little interest from bidders so far.

In the meantime, the borough has considered a return to food vending machines as an alternative, Nancy Harris, planning and engineering manager, said.

“At one time there were vending machines at the pool,” Harris said. “It’s a possibility to bring them back.”

She said Tuesday that Ephrata had received “a last-minute proposal” from a vendor to operate the snack bar.

However, that proposal arrived too late to make the Community Services Committee meeting agenda on Monday.

Still, it provides hope for many pool members who reject a vending machine setup.

“No vending machines,” Karen Buckwalter insisted. “They were horrible before, they malfunctioned or were out of things for long periods of time.”

Buckwalter’s reaction typified the response on The Ephrata Review’s Facebook page which lit up Monday on the vending machine topic.

Many, including Buckwalter, suggested the snack bar return to a more no-frills menu compared to the one introduced by Brown, which included wraps, salads, and gourmet burgers.

Get “back to basics,” said Araine Getz.

“[R]easonable priced pool food: hot dogs, burgers, pizza, soft pretzels some candies ice pops and ice cream, chips,” Getz suggested. “Not the place for gourmet.”

A few of the 52 Facebook comments spoke disfavorably about other pools that have used vending machines.

“Vending machines are stupid,” noted Shari Hess Shalter. “Nothing but junk food and always broken.”

“I never went to Ephrata but my kids went to Denver when they had vending machines…,” Dawn Marie Whitcraft added. “They were broke most of the time.”

But not all opposed the vending machine option. Julio Chalas Jr. suggested that snack bar prices could be lowered by adding vending machines.

Chris Sheaffer said, “If you’re losing money on it, close it.”

Harris rejected an idea to have the borough operate the pool’s snack bar.

“The borough doesn’t want to get in the snack bar business,” she said.

Andrea Campbell suggested alternating snack bar operations among fundraising groups which would supply food and labor — similar to what is done at Ephrata High School football games.

“Why not have the different teams take a week or two and run the snack bar (with a) portion of money going back to teams,” Campbell said.

Donna Rice Hirneisen remembers a positive experience working at the Ephrata pool snack bar in the 1980s.
“It was fun. Lots of people enjoyed the food we had,” she noted. “If you stick to basic foods I think people would be happy with that.”

Kristen Giacobbe Honeybone and Amy Rhoads also favored a snack bar over vending machines, which they say would take away teen jobs.

“The snack bar is needed,“ Rhodes wrote. “It gives teens jobs and the frozen candy was always a treat.”
“Keep snack bar simple and hire high school kids to do it,” Honeybone said.

Michelle Hilton wants to bring back a snack bar menu she remembers while “growing up at the pool.”
“(It) never looked like this…we were excited to get a frozen candy bar or an Italian ice,” Hilton added.

Cindy Colton summed up the feelings expressed in the majority of the Facebook comments.

“Simple foods with snack bar prices,” Colton said. “Foods like hot dogs, pretzels, ice cream, some candy, and drinks. No vending machines.”

Tina Halley-Diluzio said she’d “pack a lunch before I would get something from a vending machine.”

But others noted that the Ephrata Pool’s current policy limits outside food to what fits into a “six-pack cooler.”

Kerry Hendrickson Pepper called for a return to simple food “or let us order pizza and subs again.”

Patrick Burns is a staff writer for The Ephrata Review. He welcomes your questions and comments and can be reached at pburns.eph@lnpnews.com or at 721-4455.

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