Isabella track and field coach Rex Littleton is hoping an old community favorite will help the squad bring in needed funds.  

The Mustangs will be hosting their annual camp stew sale fundraiser on Saturday, and will once again be using a recipe made famous by former IHS teacher James Pierce.

Pierce cooked the stew in the 1970s and 80s, Littleton said.

“It was James Pierce who started it,” he said. “He’d cook camp stew (in) an old, black, round cast iron pot.”

Littleton said the camp stew sale had not happened for a few years when he decided to bring it back four years ago.

“He’d been (retired) a few years,” he said. “It hadn’t been done in a while, and I was trying to do a fundraiser.”

Littleton said he got the idea to revive the camp stew sale, inviting Pierce to come and help out the first two years.

The event was a resounding success, Littleton said.

“It was a hit,” he said. “It was something that everyone enjoyed.”

The sales have grown in each of the years since its revival, with Littleton expecting big things for the fourth year.

“It’s gotten bigger and bigger each year,” he said. “I wish I had a way to make more. I don’t know if its nostalgia or what, but people still buy it.”

The sale earned the track team $900 in 2014, and funds this year will go to help build a runway for a long jump practice station, a circle for shotput and discus throw and a small shed for storage of pole vault and high jump pads, along with travel expenses, Littleton said.

“We buy any kind of equipment,” he said. “We don’t have a track, so we have to go out of county (for meets). It goes to travel.”

The stew is sold in quart containers, and costs $8 each. With the popularity of the stew, Littleton said the school office is taking orders, but there would be a few quarts available for walk-up purchase Saturday.

Littleton also said the stew will be cooking from 5:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., and that anyone is welcome to stop by.

“Isabella folks care about their school,” he said. “It’s unreal. If I could make 100 gallons, I would. We thank everyone for the support.”

To place an order, contact the school at 280-2770.