nosh nook #85 - friday, july 10, 2009

VA man has father's old snack bar restored (link)
07.09.09 - the free lance-star - by donnie johnston

in northern virginia, about an hour & a half southwest of d.c., there's a town called culpeper. it's a town of almost 15,000 people that's home to baby jim's snack bar, which was started by collis c. "baby jim" jenkins back in 1942 in a small aluminum trailer. baby jim's now 80 years old & the snack bar has since moved out of the trailer, but the trailer remained, useless & sitting in the woods...until now.

as donnie johnston reports for the free lance-star, three weeks ago, with baby jim's 80th birthday fast approaching, his wife & son decided to surprise him by restoring the original baby jim's trailer & unveiling it to him during culpeper's fourth of july parade. getting it ready in time was no easy task though, so they turned to mark hayes, owner of the sign shop, another culpeper business. the trailer was in such bad shape that much of it had to be replaced, but after 100 man hours, "the refurbished snack bar now has a new sink, a new counter and new electrical fixtures. the frame and the roof, however, are original."

with the trailer restored, the next thing for baby jim's wife & son to do was figure out a way to keep the surprise intact & get him to the 4th of july parade. as his wife noted, "he doesn't like crowds, so we weren't sure if we're going to get him there." you can't teach an old dog new tricks, but you can trick an old dog...& that's what they did. they got one of his friends to take him to the parade & from his front-row seat, they unveiled the trailer as part of a float that "not only featured the refurbished snack bar but also picnic tables with a number of baby jim's past and present employees sitting on them." apparently baby jim loved that shizz & now, the original baby jim's snack bar is looking good again, which means it has a promising future sitting in a parking lot or yard, on display for all to see.