by Ellen Harey, Harness Racing Communications

Harrisburg, PA — When Tom and Linda Winebrenner of Fox Den Farm pack for the Harrisburg sale, they don’t just haul along hay and oats.

It’s soup, sandwiches and enough “pot luck” contributions to feed a crowd of hungry horse people, as many as 100 a day, estimates Linda.

USTA photo

Chris Tully and Kate Forry of the Harness Racing Museum join the lunch crowd at Fox Den Farm.

“I used to work for Phil Tully maybe 30 years ago and Phil always fed his consignors and his shoppers,” said Linda. “When he died, someone had to carry it on and my husband was manager for Phil, so we kept on going with it. But we were just doing it for our own internal thing and the auctioneers who have no place to go and not a lot of time.

“It just escalated in to someone would bring something and someone would eat something. We started the barter system. My husband and I make soup a month in advance and freeze it all. We make vegetable soup and my racetrack surprise, which is a tomato base (today’s had meatballs added).

“Sometimes we feed 100 a day here and when it’s gone it’s gone. Everyone is more than welcome and hopefully they’ll buy a horse from us and hopefully they’ll give me something to consign, look at our horses. This is in lieu of a Christmas ad, Tom and I are putting our thanks in our stomachs.

People bring us apples, pies. Today Mr. Zimmerman’s granddaughters came and they brought me custard pies, whoopee pies, various kinds of cakes. All homemade this morning, all steaming hot. They were just as proud as they could be. It’s a friendship thing.

This is what we used to be on the racetrack. Someone had a loaf of bread, someone had a piece of cheese, you put it together and sit and talk, share coffee, good times, maybe some leg paint. This is what harness racing is all about. It’s family and sharing and good times.”