Assembly line of love and tradition behind famous Barton Auxiliary Cheese Balls

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - For 29 years members of the Barton Hospital Auxiliary and their volunteers have been creating cheese balls to sell during the holidays, and for 29 years the popularity of the garlicky, nutty and slightly spicy cheese balls has continued to grow.

One creamy swipe across a piece of sourdough bread or dipped with a cracker, and anyone with a discerning palate can tell the difference between store-bought and these homemade delights.

But what is in that tasty swipe is a guarded secret.

Fern Riley was the auxiliary corresponding secretary in 1987 when she was at a convention and met a woman whose son was a doctor at Barton Memorial Hospital. They started to talk and Fern learned of the woman's big cheese ball fundraiser at the Torrance (CA) Hospital.

At the time the Barton Auxiliary was looking for a money maker so Fern was able to get the Torrance recipe and brought it back to Lake Tahoe.

"It took us two years to get it started," said Fern of the local cheese balls.

In 1989, Riley and the auxiliary sold 80 cheese balls. They were a big hit, especially with the nurse's stations. Each year they made more and were up to 500 cheese balls by the 3rd year. In 2018, their 29th year, 1400 cheese balls have been made to sell this holiday season, the largest batch ever.

And Fern is still involved. Even though her house has sold and she'll be leaving the hill, she won't be far and plans to return every year to make cheese balls.

With each cheese ball weighing in at about 10 ounces one can imagine the amount of cheese, nuts and special ingredients are combined with love, bagged and tied for sale. This year, almost 800 pounds of cheese has been used!

In 1989 and for several years, the cheese was purchased from a local creamery, the balls were created at the old Elk's Lodge and they were stored at Barkley's Meats in their freezer.

They now mix the ingredients and form into blocks, then freeze them until the day comes to create the balls. This year the assembly line was in the hospital's cafe where several volunteers in food safe hats and gloves put the creation through an assembly line....from the initial weighing station where they shaped the cheese, then to the nut station, the bagging station and the final stop, the ribbon tying station.

The cheese balls remain at just $8 each and will be sold at the following locations:

Barton Gift Shop inside the hospital - November 1 until sold out from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Barton Hospital Snowflake Lobby on November 8 from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
Carson Valley Medical Center main lobby - November 15 from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
Festival of Trees & Lights at MontBleu - December 7 and 9 from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Funds raised this year will help fund scholarships for local students.

Since 1960, the Barton Memorial Hospital Auxiliary has been an active group of volunteers who give generously of their time and talents to support Barton Memorial Hospital, its patients and the community. The auxiliary members assist the hospital in promoting the health and welfare of the community in accordance with objectives established by the hospital’s board of directors.

The volunteers are dedicated citizens who make a difference in our community, with community blood drives, the Health Fair, Lab Draws and Flu Shot clinics as well as numerous other activities. Their support of Barton Hospital is greatly appreciated by the hospital staff, physicians, patients, visitors and community.

The Auxiliary raises and donates funds each year to the hospital through special events, such as book fairs, a fashion show; Holiday Faire; and Cheese Ball sales. The distribution of these funds is at the hospital’s sole discretion.

For more information, contact Linda Coffman at 530.577.0328, call the Barton Gift Shop at 530.543.5927 or check out their website https://www.bartonhealth.org/tahoe/auxiliary.aspx.