LEMONT AND MARGIT HEIST- churro shop owners

I’ve had to google YOLO several times before I remembered what it meant. It means “You Only Live Once”, like a version of “Carpe Diem” for rappers and cool kids. It was also printed on the front of Margit and Lemont’s t-shirts, which read: “YOLO! I got a scone AND a churro.”

Fifteen days a year, the Heist family sells deep-fried, cinnamon-and-sugar treats at local events, most recently at the Western Idaho Fair.  After talking to them for a while, it seems that the YOLO phrase fits their family well: Margit is a cancer survivor. And between Margit and Lemont, they juggle half a dozen jobs- Lemont is the manager of the local Lowes, and they co-own an interior design business. They work hard, but playfully and as a team. 

You only live once, but it takes humor and hard work to make the best of it. And meanwhile, why not have a churro? And a scone.

           

WHAT IS IMPORTANT TO YOU?

Margit- Family and friends sound so blasé, but it’s that connection between people.

Lemont- I work very hard obviously with all of my jobs. I also play very hard. After selling churros at Art in the Park, I go hunting for a week. We always take a week family vacation somewhere. We take a week in July and go to McCall. I work very hard so I can play very hard.

TELL ME ABOUT THE SHIRTS.

Margit- The shirts! Oh! Since we are having volunteers every year, I thought that every year if we could pick and item that symbolized that summer and create a shirt, you can have 3, 4, 5, years of different shirts, they can take it with us.

Lemont- I ask my kids to design the shirts. And last year, the big popular thing was honey badger. We designed a shirt that said ‘honey badger eats scones and churros.’ We wanted to do something different, so we went with ‘YOLO’, so I didn’t get it, but teenagers just googled and said ‘Dad, look at this.’ So we ended up with t-shirts that say ‘YOLO’ eat scones and a churro’. Every time someone orders a scone and churro this year, we’ve said  “YOLO.”

WHAT DOES THE CHURRO STAND MEAN TO YOU? WHAT KIND OF MEMORIES DO YOU HAVE FROM IT?

Margit- We bought it as a way to teach the kids and work ethic. To get them involved in seeing how to make money. You can work really hard and have a lot of fun and make some money in the end.  It’s been so awesome to see how well some of the kids take on and learn these skills, and some of the kids who you thought were so brilliant just weren’t that great. But it has been so fascinating and the people that we have met who have volunteered with us, we’ve got adopted family now.

Lemont- This would be our fifth year. Usually there is about two nights a week, where about 8:30 or 9:00 at night, they’ll be 20-30 people in line for about two hours. There will be eleven or twelve people working in this booth, it’s madness for three hours, two friers at 365 degrees and over 100 degrees outside. Now, we know what to expect. We always stay open until 12:15 and make a few extra churros for the policemen who are here at the end of the night.

Left, family members in the Heist's business trailer. Right, the dough mixer.

WHAT IS A LESSON THAT YOU’VE LEARNED OR ARE LEARNING?

Lemont- To be detailed and pay attention about what goes on from year to year. Since we’ve had this business, I can kind of see the trends change. It’s just a matter of paying attention to what people want.

WHAT DO YOU WANT?

Margit- Happiness?

Lemont- I want to be able to pay for my kid’s college in about three or four years. I want to work really hard for another ten or fifteen years, be able to take more vacations.