By Sentinel-Tribune Staff

If you go to the Wood County Fair, even for just one day, chances are you won’t leave until you eat a Pork-A-Lean sandwich from the Wood County Pork Producers venue.

The meat is prepared by Belleville Meat Market in Bowling Green, owned by Mike Belleville and operated with the help of his son, Ivan.

“It’s kind of a staple at the fair,” explained the younger Belleville. “When you say Pork-A-Lean, most people from around here know just what you’re talking about.”

The Pork-A-Lean stand being delivered in the 1980s.

supplied photo

The recipe for the meat is a closely guarded secret.

“No one, at least around here, has anything like it,” Ivan said.

Over the years, the Pork-A-Lean sandwich hasn’t changed.

“The sandwiches my kids eat is exactly the same.”

Of course, the meat is available at the Belleville Meat Market, located at 239 S. Main St. in Bowling Green, but then you would miss out on eating it at the Wood County Fairgrounds.

“Part of (the mystique) of the sandwich is the memories of the fair it brings back.”

Other factors play a part in the sandwich’s popularity.

“It’s also reasonably priced,” Ivan pointed out.

The meat is best if it’s prepared on a grill, he said.

The family business goes back to the late 1970s when the elder Belleville and his brother, Jamie, got into the meat business. When Jamie died a couple of years ago, his wife, Barbara, took a more active role in the business.

The meat in the Pork-A-Lean sandwich is a major part of the meat market’s sales.

“We sold 10,000-plus pounds of the meat last year,” Ivan said.

The sandwich meat is only a part of the family’s involvement in the Wood County Fair.

“We go back four generations at the fair. My grandfather, whose name is also Ivan, started (his involvement with the fair) in the 1950s.”

Family members also showed cattle at the fair, and the younger Ivan’s sister, Maryanne, showed horses.

Mike said the fair used to held at a city park in Bowling Green.

“There was a lot more space (at the current site),” Mike said. ‘It has expanded a lot now, mostly to the north.”

Mike said the junior fair is much more educational now than in the past.

Camping at the fair has also changed over the years.

“If you wanted to stay on the fairgrounds, you used to take a pickup truck and throw a tent over the back. You used some sleeping bags to put down (on the truck bed) to sleep on. You didn’t have big air-conditioned campers back then.”

Mike recalled fairgoers used vacation time to attend the fair,

“You made a lot of friends, and they were from all over.”

The Belleville family continues to participate in fair activities by providing funding for many junior fair projects.