When the early days of February arrive, some might say that love is in the air. But for others, chocolates and flowers aren’t the February tradition they look forward to the most. It’s the warm, crisp crunch of a savory spring roll dipped in special sweet and sour sauce. And there’s only one place a person can find a love like that: at the annual Korean Presbyterian Church of Fayetteville Spring Roll Bazaar.
Held each year for the past 47 years, the Spring Roll Bazaar has made its name known among community members. It’s a simple notion: make spring rolls, sell spring rolls and help those in need with the money made. But simple is far from what the Spring Roll Bazaar is.
It’s nearly 50 years of refining not only the perfect recipe, but also the flawless system to make it all work seamlessly. As a result, you get almost 100,000 hand-rolled treats, fellowship among churchgoers and the community and a lot of happy customers.
Behind the spring roll magic
The cool, late winter breeze drifts the sweet smell of cabbage and carrots through the air as Jay Yi, owner and operator of The Happy Deli and first in command of spring roll production at the Korean Presbyterian Church, zips around in a hurry. Getting pulled left and right, Yi said there’s nowhere he’d rather be.
“My wife and I have the deli in the Courthouse, but I tell her, ‘You got it. I’ll be at the sale,’” he joked.
It’s the first day of production for the Spring Roll Bazaar and the church gymnasium, aptly dubbed the Joy Gym, is bustling with excited volunteers ready to mix and roll thousands of spring rolls for the next seven hours. In exactly one week, the Joy Gym will be filled with eager customers, cash in hand, ready to bring home a box of that crunchy goodness.
Several large fridges line the walls of the garage outside the gymnasium, each filled to the brim with thousands of pounds of fresh cabbage and carrots, spring roll wraps and rice noodles.
After the vegetables are freshly shredded in the gymnasium kitchen, they’re handed off to the mixing team where the ingredients are tossed in large metal bowls.
From there, the bowls are distributed to the several rows of tables full of chattering ladies diligently rolling. Yi said there’s never a daily goal or quota to meet. The numbers just always work out.
In the kitchen, cooks drop the rolls into boiling pots of vegetable oil. Yi said fresh oil and quality cooking are what make the spring rolls so good.
“It costs a lot of money to use more [oil], but it’s better for our mission,” he said.
When the bazaar started in 1992, the goal was a simple $3,000, according to Yi. Their mission this year is to make $90,000 for the church and to support the surrounding community, $10,000 more than last year. Considering the sale sells out early every year, Yi believes this will be an easy task.
The secret to this success lies in the mission behind it all — and in the special sauce.
The secret recipe to it all
The “special sauce” — as it’s known among the bazaar regulars — alone could turn a significant profit. Aside from the 90,000 4-ounce cups included in each box of spring rolls, customers can also purchase a jar of the sweet and sour concoction for $10. The sauce is so sought after that customers have begged for more in the past, upping the container from 2 to 4 ounces just a few years ago.
But what is the secret sauce? No one quite knows, not even Kim Robinson, second in command of spring roll production.
“I’ve been at this church for 41 years and I still don’t have the exact recipe,” Robinson chuckled to herself.
Yi said only three of the volunteers know the recipe. Made in secret when all the volunteers have left for the day, the results change slightly each year.
“People say, ‘Why is it different from last year?’” he smirked, knowingly, “I say, ‘Is it good or is it bad?’”
The answer can be found in the endless line of excited customers stretching through the gymnasium and out the door each year.
The clock strikes noon, and production stalls as a group of church ladies bring in that day’s homemade lunch: a helping of white rice, pickled green peppers, anchovy salad, kimchi and a bowl of hot soup.
Volunteers settle into their seats with their meals, hot ramen available in the center of each table, and conversation fills the air.
Mothers and daughters, new and old church members, friends and strangers make the magic of the bazaar come to life. Robinson said with approximately 300 members at Korean Presbyterian Church, some of the volunteers never talk to each other until they’re working together on the bazaar.
“It’s not only money and revenue [for the church], it’s time to be together,” she explained.
Robinson, a longtime volunteer of the event, has witnessed the Spring Roll Bazaar from almost the very beginning. The people at the church are like no other, she said.
“We are very proud of this faith community in Fayetteville,” she said.
With 100% of the sale’s proceeds going towards things such as local fire stations, the Fayetteville Police Department and the church’s own missionary work, Robinson believes the success of the Spring Roll Bazaar stems from just one driving force: to bring glory to God and to contribute to flourishing the community they call home.
Spring roll regulars
Hundreds of containers of fresh, hot spring rolls line the entryway to the Joy Gym, ready to be purchased by the dozens of awaiting customers, while the kitchen continues to fry up more rolls hot and fresh.
“You know, one time somebody said if we connected all the spring rolls together, they’d reach from Fayetteville all the way past Raleigh,” Robinson chuckles.
Some have followed the spring roll crumbs from as far as Raeford, like Patsy Hawkes who heard about the bazaar from a friend.
“They’re delicious. And we like to support local missions too,” she said.
From nurses to soldiers to hairstylists and construction workers, satisfied faces exit the Joy Gym, spring rolls in hand. Some even roll up in their cars and load up totes full. Louise Bordeaux, a local hairstylist, popped over during her lunch break to load up until next year.
“I buy a lot and put them in the freezer and then stick them in the air fryer when I want them,” she explains, “I wait for it every year.”
Fresh or frozen, spring roll lovers come from far and near each year, not only in search of that crunch and to taste that sweet, secret sauce, but to support a mission that goes far beyond a Styrofoam box of delicious spring rolls.e.”
Read CityView Magazine’s “The Faith Issue” April 2025 e-edition here.
