This weekend, residents of Kansas City and the surrounding area have the first of only two chances this year to grab what some consider to be the best pretzel in the city.

Heather Browne and her colleagues will be rolling thousands of pretzels for adoring fans and first-time customers over the next four days. They’ve been in the business for nearly 15 years, but their salty treats aren’t found in any bakery or restaurant. Browne is part of a group of dance moms, and the pretzels are a fundraiser for the charity.

MelRoe’s School of Dance Support Association will man a booth at Independence’s The SantaCaliGon Days Festivalthat celebrates the city’s history as a starting point for the Santa Fe, California and Oregon trails. The stand has become famous on the local festival circuit for its soft, chewy pretzels.

The purple pretzel stand is just one of many fundraisers the club organizes to support its children’s expensive sport – it costs over $6,000 a year to participate in a dance competition – but it is by far the most popular.

The pretzels are only available seven days a year, during the SantaCaliGon Days and the Liberty Fall FestivalThe Dance Moms have been rolling them by hand since 2010, when the newly formed charity bought the recipe and some equipment from a pretzel retailer that was going out of business. The rest is history.

“We haven’t changed this recipe much since then because it’s so delicious. There’s really nothing to change,” said Browne, the association’s president. “They’re rolled with love – and you can’t go wrong with salt and butter.”

The support group consists mainly of working parents who do volunteer work in their spare time; Browne is a nurse. Preparations for the seven glorious days when the pretzels are available take months.

The group spends months sourcing flour and nacho cheese in bulk. In the days leading up to SantaCaliGon, volunteers pre-measure all the flour and yeast they need to quickly produce the thousands of pretzels they’ll sell. Hours before the festival begins, the support group is busy setting up its iconic purple booth and organizing the heavy equipment needed to distribute the dough to hungry customers.

Browne will likely work 20 hours this weekend, along with groups of other members of the support group. The volunteers often have to endure extreme heat, made worse by stoves inside the cabin.

When it’s not hot, it’s raining—Browne swears it pours every year. Although the stand is equipped with tarps to cover the windows, workers often roll pretzels in the standing water so they can continue to serve customers.

The effort of setting up the stalls and keeping up with the hordes of hungry guests reminds Browne of her daughter’s experiences at dance competitions.

“They’re very similar: a lot of energy, a lot of stress,” Browne said. “You’re on your toes the whole time, whether you’re trying to roll, controlling the time, watching the oven so the pretzels don’t burn, or looking in line to see if we need a second roll. It’s very similar to dancing.”

Gabriel Rosenberg

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KCUR 89.3

During the festival, the pretzel stand turns into a family reunion of sorts. Former dancers and their families stop by to visit between bites. One of the most exciting moments for Browne is seeing MelRoe’s former dancers with their children, who may one day be future dancers in the studio.

Then there are the regulars, who are less graceful but still have a passion for pretzels. Browne said some customers drive for hours just to get their hands on the rare commodity.

“It’s fun to talk to people when they come in and place their order and say we’re the only reason they come here,” Browne said. “We’ve had people come back multiple times in one day to get a second, third or fourth pretzel, or even over the weekend because they liked it and wanted to order another one to go.”

For Browne, the pretzel stand is more than just an annual fundraiser for her child’s favorite sport — it’s a way to stay connected to Independence and the dance community.

When MelRoes moved his studio from Independence to Liberty, selling pretzels at SantaCaliGon has been one of the few ways to maintain his presence in the city. It’s a way to recruit dancers and reconnect with familiar faces.

“To be honest, when this is all over and my daughter graduates, I don’t know what I’m going to do with myself,” Browne said. “It’s exciting to work at the pretzel stand. It sounds weird, but it’s fun. You have camaraderie. You laugh. You make people happy by giving them a warm, homemade pretzel.”