Published: August 22, 2009 05:25 pm      

Savory smell of spaghetti wafts over Stephens County Free Fair

DUNCAN — Each year, August brings the Stephens County Fair & Expo Center to life with the annual free fair.

Anyone who has been to a fair knows the sights, sounds and smells are like no other time and place, and people of all ages eagerly look forward to the yearly event.

While the familiar smells of dust, animals, cotton candy and popcorn are ever-present, another, more subtle fragrance has wafted over the proceedings for the past few years spaghetti.

GFWC Owl Club members conduct an annual spaghetti lunch on one of the days of the fair to raise money for their community projects. This year, spaghetti, salad, garlic toast and tea will be served up from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Thursday for a $5 donation.

Carryout meals are available, and there will be plenty of seating for those who wish to dine in between visits to other fair attractions.

The Owl Club of Duncan was organized in June of 1919 and was federated on Sept. 1 of that year. The club got its name from the 15 “wise and wide-awake” members it had at the time. The group chose “Be Square” as its motto, which reminds members to be honest, fair and always useful. The club has always operated on the premise, “Where there is no vision the people perish,” from Proverbs 29:18. Since its inception, the club has realized the vital importance of vision in local, state and national affairs.

Objective of the club is to enlighten, enlist and enlarge.

Community service projects have always been important to the club and have included nursing scholarships; the Prairie House Foundation; cell phones for abused women; Chisholm Trail Arts Council; Women’s Haven; EDGE Academy; Hugh O’Brian Youth Leadership (HOBY); Toy Shop; Kind News — Gabriel’s House; International Heifer Project; 1734 Society; the annual Stephens County Christmas dinner; a flower bed in Centennial Park; and Christians Concerned.

GFWC is a national and international organization that was granted a charter in 1901 by the United States government. It has grown to be the largest organization of women volunteers in the world.

The group meets on the first Thursday of each month from September through May in members’ homes.