Sandwich still Grant County Fair mainstay

MOSES LAKE — There are some things that Lioness Stella Lopez will discuss openly when asked about Spaceburgers.

She’ll rattle off the obvious ingredients like bread, lettuce and cooked ground beef in no time flat.

But she won’t divulge the ingredients of the sauce inside the pocket-like sandwich. The snack has become a mainstay at the Grant County Fair since the early 1960s.

Maybe what Lopez isn’t saying about the sauce or the sandwich is really something that must remain secret to keep the recipe unique.

Lioness LaDawn Garwood said she’s worked at the Spaceburger booth for 10 years. There’s no special training or requirements to make Spaceburgers and help at the booth, she said.

“You just come and work and we train you,” Garwood said.

She added that new volunteers and members are welcome.

Last year, the Spaceburger booth brought in $57,000 from fair sales which was used for scholarships, she said. This year, the sandwiches sell for $2.50 each.

“All of that goes back into the community,” Garwood said.

The treat first came to Grant County when four Spaceburger presses were bought from a man who supplied the equipment for the 1962 World’s Fair in Seattle.

Spaceburgers are hung from the ceiling of the Lioness booth as decorations, which caused customer Richard Leitz of Mattawa to ask how old they were.

He said he never had a Spaceburger before, but decided to try one because the booth was nearby. He also stopped by because he knows some of the ladies in the Lioness booth, he said.

Akacia Morton, 16, and her friend, Kaylie Pixlee, 16, both of Ephrata, were waiting for their order on Tuesday.

Both girls said they were about 5 years old when they acquired a taste for Spaceburgers.

“I just like the taste,” Pixlee said.

“I like that there’s no crust and they have a gravy-type thing with the meat,” Morton said.