News Item

From Special Irish Fest Deep Fat Fryer Correspondent Ed Scanlon:

"Despite having a charming ballpark just outside St. Louis, the Gateway Grizzlies will likely never be renowned for their brand of baseball - one step below Single-A ball.

But they're already famous at the concession stand. Or should that be infamous?

It's sweet like a doughnut, and then you've got the hamburger. You'’ve read that right. It's a burger with cheese and bacon, sandwiched between a Krispy Kreme doughnut -— a heart attack waiting to happen. A burger so perfect, they say, tampering is discouraged.

'You're ruining it! You're not supposed to put ketchup on it!' Bowers says to a diner. '“Well, I don't know. It's my first time,' he replies. For a mere $4.50 it's breakfast, dinner, and a little dessert all in one. That it packs up to 1,000 calories -— the donut alone has 10 grams of sugar -— doesn't seem to faze diabetic diner Floyd Schuetz. 'Oh, I'll have another one of these,'” he says. Nor does it faze three fans -— two in their 80s -— who passed up the peanuts and crackerjacks for this. Asked if she was worried about the health ramifications, Betty Osborne says 'No, not tonight. Tonight I'm living it up.'

After trying a bite,— Bowers says she would normally never eat a burger like this, but she would make the sacrifice in the interest of journalistic integrity. She says it is better than she expected. '“I don'’t know that I would do this again, but it'’s pretty good,' says Bowers.

The Grizzlies say "cheesy" gimmicks like this are crucial to the team's bottom line. '“With minor league baseball we have to work extremely hard to get fans to come out here,' says the Grizzlies'’ Jeff O'Neill.

Which begs the question -— what's next? '“We were in the concession stand the other day trying to come up with 'Baseball's Best Pizza.' "

Let'’s just hope it's not going to be be on a Krispy Kreme crust."

Is anybody surprised to see that an O'Neill is behind this little bit of culinary showmanship?

You may not find delicacies like that at The Kansas City Irish Fest, but you won't go hungry, we promise. There'll be lots of great food available, Irish and American, for kids and grown ups. A complete list of Irish Fest food vendors will be posted on our website soon.