Lebanon woman serves up bison, venison at the fair

Jeannette Brooks, and her brother, Maruice Cote of South Berwick on Monday in front of Lacey's. (Harrison Thorp photo)

ROCHESTER - For most of the year Jeannette Brooks is content to cook for her husband, Lee.

But for 10 days every September she cooks for thousands.

Brooks, a retired Sanford nursing home cook, dons her apron every year at this time to feed hungry folk at the Rochester Fair from her Lacey’s Kitchen food trailer.

A resident of Prospect Hill Road in West Lebanon, she gets up every morning to arrive at her Rochester Fair eatery around 8 a.m. where with the help of her brother, Maurice Cote of South Berwick;  and her son, Randy Brooks of Rochester, she serves up buffalo and venison burgers along with all the fixins’ for hungry fairgoers.

Leea Sterling of Haverhill, Mass., enjoys some French fries at Lacey's Kitchen while her friend, Jim Lutz of Northwood, N.H., looks on.

Most days Brooks doesn’t leave Lacey’s Kitchen till 10 or 11 p.m. It is a labor of love, she says.

“I enjoy meeting the people,” she said on Monday as she relaxed in a chair outside her food trailer as her brother took a few orders. “I get so many repeat customers, the same ones every year.”

While the majority of food booths at the fair are run by Fiesta Shows, Brooks is one of the “Independents.”

Her specialty is buffalo burgers and venison burgers, which she sells for $6 apiece. While The Lebanon Voice chatted with Brooks, a couple ordering French fries said they had to come back for more after sampling some earlier. Brooks said her fries have a coating of corn starch which people like because it makes them extra crispy.

Brooks said she bought the truck in 2004 and began selling food at the fair the next year. Now in her eighth season, she said she also sometimes brings special homemade dishes just for the carnival workers who long for a home-cooked meal.

While the Rochester Fair is her biggest event every year, Lacey’s Kitchen also serves up food at the Somersworth Children’s Festival, the Alfred Tractor Pull and Rochester’s Fourth of July fireworks show.

Fairgoers can find Lacey's Kitchen at the back of the llama barn.