Harlon Hess has been at this for a while.
The Pittsburg State Hall of Famer has been cooking in what is now called the Gorilla Village for almost 20 years, 16 of those for the Kansas City Gorilla Club.
Hess and the rest of the good folks with the KCGC have learned how to put on a shindig.
“We had our Webers and we cooked outside a shelter house for 20 or 30 people," Hess said. "Four years later, I retired and we formed the Kansas City Gorilla Club and took on a bigger role. We bought a bigger cooker and got permission to use the shelter house. We’ve been there ever since.”
And at Saturday’s Miner’s Bowl game against Missouri Southern at Carnie Smith Stadium, Hess and about 20 members of the KCGC will be on hand for the group’s last tailgate of the season, which will run from 11:15 to 1:15 -- giving the group just enough time to clean up and watch some football.
Membership in the club -- $50 for a couple or $25 for an individual -- gets a person into the tailgate, as does $10 for walk-ups.
And they make it worth the money.
The menu at the tailgate always includes italian sausages from Schroeder’s in Arma, as well as hotdogs -- with chili and sauerkraut optional -- as well as Gorilla Wings and nachos.
Hess said the 15 to 20 members of the KCGC that come down for the tailgates bring covered dishes as well as an assortment of desserts.
And while the menu sounds like typical tailgater fare, that wasn’t always the case.
“I used to fry hamburgers, but that was too laber intensive,” Hess said. “I used to smoke brisquet and pork butts when I was younger. Then a young lady asked if we had hotdogs. I said that we had italian sausages, but she said her little boy wanted a hot dog and since we didn’t have any she wanted her money back. Since then, we’ve always had hotdogs.”
Hess said the other thing that they almost always have is leftovers, but he said that is donated to the homeless shelter at Third and Walnut.
“They always express their appreciation and it makes me sleep better knowing we didn’t throw it away,” Hess said.
The tailgate is not a money-maker for the KCGC, necessarily, as the majority of their funds are raised in August at a picnic that includes a live auction and a silent auction.
But supporting the group means supporting PSU because of the money they donate back to the school.
“We signed on for $50,000 on the scoreboard and we try to add $10,000 to our endowment,” Hess said. “Right now we have a $130,000 endowment plus we give $1,000 to the band and take care of little things that pop up. A couple of years ago we bought the team a meal when they went to the Mineral Water Bowl.”
And a hungry Pitt State student will never be turned away.
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