Work ethic, compassion brought to market
Tom Taylor reminisces about the days of driving his young family to Moraine State Park and, on the way, saying, “We ought to open a business here.”
Fast forward four decades and that aspiration — the Fairground Market — not only materialized, but it also grew and flourished under the umbrella of Taylor's unyielding work ethic and compassion.
Taylor will be honored as the William A. Morgan, Jr. Entrepreneur of the Year 2019 at the Butler County Chamber of Commerce's annual “Celebrate Business” dinner Sept. 10 at Slippery Rock University's Robert M. Smith Student Center. The award is presented annually to an outstanding local business owner who is recommended by the chamber's Past Presidents Advisory Council and past award recipients.
“Fairground Market has continued their chamber membership since opening their doors, and has proven to be a reliable, consistent and creative service for many of our major events such as our award dinners, luncheons, and annual golf outing. Tom's generosity has assisted many of our Leadership Butler County fundraising projects achieve their goals,” said Stan M. Kosciuszko, President of the Butler County Chamber of Commerce.
“His success is truly based on hard work, persistence and a love of community as he continues to exemplify the 'Entrepreneurial Spirit.' We congratulate him and thank him for his contributions to our community.”
Brian Taylor, Tom Taylor's son and business partner, said he's grateful to see his father's accomplishments recognized because “he's very modest and not the type to toot his own horn. But he's done so much for this business and helping people and the community. Anything he does, he puts his whole heart into.”
Tom Taylor, a Slippery Rock High School graduate and former Army National Guardsman, said he grew up in a family in which working at Standard Pullman was part of their heritage. Like his father and brothers, Tom Taylor worked at Pullman in the heavy operating press for about 16 years until it closed shop in 1981.
Having lived in Prospect his whole life, Tom Taylor in his younger years kept a second job at an area gas station, where he was a mechanic who also served customers or washed cars.
“I've had a busy life,” he said.
Tom Taylor said he got to know many people who live in that area, prompting him and his then-wife, Rebecca “Becky Sue” Taylor, to open a deli and grocer locally.
They first rented the 1,200-square-foot, one-time upholstery shop in June 1983. Four years later, Becky died of cancer.
“We'd started this together,” Tom Taylor said, reflecting on his wife's death, when the community helped him as a business owner and a father raising two children, Brian and Sherry.
Instead of giving up the couple's dream when Becky died, Tom Taylor pushed forward and that same year remodeled and enlarged the store and adjacent ice cream stand.“I owned the ice cream stand too because it was on the same half-acre,” Tom Taylor said.Since then, he has added to the Fairground Market building four more times. Its current 8,000-square-foot space includes a full meat department, vegetables, necessities and a hot food counter.Tom Taylor also slowly purchased surrounding properties — a total of 29 acres to date.By the time he married Betty Jo Taylor in 1992, Tom Taylor had already started the catering side of the business “as an adventure … to see what we could do,” he said.Today, Fairground Market caters between 100 and 200 weddings per year, in addition to numerous benefits and charities.“Our specialties are grilled chicken, stuffed chicken and beef barbecue,” Tom Taylor said.The barbecue recipe prompts a smile. It was added to the menu years ago, he said, when a Texas native asked him to make a sample to consider serving at a wedding in Butler.“He said, 'I lived in Texas nearly 30 years, and that is the best barbecue I have ever had,'” Tom Taylor said. “So, I never changed the recipe.”Tom Taylor took over the catering company's chief role.He said one charity gun raffle event alone generally requires a ton of beef, a ton of pork, 1,500 pounds of potato salad, 1,500 pounds of french fries and 20,000 chicken wings.Brian Taylor now leads the store, while he said a day doesn't go by that his father doesn't put in a 12-hour day.“He doesn't stop,” Brian Taylor said. “He is here at 4:30 every morning. He is just leaving now (about 5 p.m.) and he said he would be back later. How many 71-year-olds do you know who do that? He's a different breed.”Brian Taylor said because of his father's work ethics and passion, “Every year we have been in business, we have moved forward … for 37 years. That is pretty impressive.”Fairground Market now employees about 20 people. “I wouldn't be where I am without my employees and family,” Tom Taylor said. “I have a lot of pride in the people who work for me. It's a tough market. A lot of people who come here stay five, 10, 18, 26 years. They have problems, I have problems, so we take care of each other.”
Respect is mutual, said Prospect resident Shelley Carlson. A Fairground Market employee for 11 years, Carlson said, “Tom is an amazing man. He has a generous heart and he'll help anybody with anything. He's a great person to work for. For example, when my husband passed away seven years ago, Tom was accommodating with my schedule, so I could get things situated and come back.”Cashiers, deli workers, cooks and two full-time butchers are currently on the Fairground Market staff. One of Tom Taylor's most valued workers, Beth McCandless, has been the chief cook of the store for 26 years.“I married her mother 28 years ago this Saturday,” Tom Taylor said during a July 10 interview.Annually, the week of the Big Butler Fair — the inspiration to the store name — remains its busiest week. But at any given time, 200 people a day purchase food from the store's hot case.“We've come a long way in 30 some years,” Tom Taylor said.Although Tom Taylor is a fan of vacationing in the Bahamas and watching his own two horses race at local venues, he admittedly doesn't get to it as much as he or his family might like.“I wonder why they put up with me, I'm here all the time,” he said, noting that retirement is not in the near future. Or ever.“That's just not something you do,” he said. “I'm 71 years old, and I work seven days a week. I enjoy what I do. I get to help a lot of people in the community, and I have a lot of people who work here who depend on me for a living. I keep taking work so they have work. I have no ghosts or regrets on anything I have done and I plan to keep doing it.”
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