Washington State Fair Food for 2024
The Washington State Fair’s reputation for deep-fried everything is getting a delicious upgrade! This year’s Washington State Fair food highlights the state’s bounty, showcasing its proud agriculture, regional foodways, and talented local vendors.
Fairgoers can tantalize their taste buds with diverse options: sip a refreshing California wine slushie in the wine garden, savor a hearty Nebraska beef Reuben burger from the Chuck Wagon, or indulge in a sweet treat with Vermont maple syrup soft serve at the sugar house. Of course, classic fried fair foods are still available, but even these get a local twist. Funnel cakes, burgers, and candy are all reimagined with regional ingredients, making them worthy of a blue ribbon.
Washington: Scones
For a sweet taste of Washington state fair food, look no further than the Washington State Fair, commonly known as the Puyallup Fair after its namesake town. It is one of the largest state fairs in the country. But more importantly for food-minded attendees, it also has scones on lock. Fisher scones have been a fair staple for more than 100 years, with more than a million sold annually during the 20-day festival. Served hot from the oven, each scone comes slathered with whipped sweet honey butter spread and raspberry jam.
In Nevada, the Basque Fry in Gardnerville, an annual festival honoring Nevada’s Basque heritage, is centered in the northern part of the state. For a classic taste of the Basque Country, visit Washington State Fair Food and Wine Exchange’s booth for a serving of Basque fries, also known as lamb’s testicles.
The meat is thinly sliced and tenderized with a mallet, marinated in milk overnight, battered and dredged with light breadcrumbs, then fried until golden. No ordinary ketchup will do for this deliciousness. Instead, each order is accompanied by a Basque ketchup made with smoked paprika and piment d’espellet. This classic dish not only nods to Basque heritage but also reflects the whole animal philosophy of Liberty Foods chef and owner Mark Esty.
Wisconsin: Original Cream Puffs
Food has become a major attraction at the Washington state fair food, drawing over a million attendees to West Allis every August. With more than 200 food and beverage vendors to choose from, focus on dairy-inspired dishes such as deep-fried cheese curds, grilled cheese sandwiches, and buttery corn to get a taste of Wisconsin’s best-known agricultural export. An absolute must, though, is the original cream puff. Created in 1924 by the Wisconsin Bakers Association to highlight the state’s wheat and dairy industries, this treat remains the longest continuously offered food item at the fair.
Ryan Hagy, owner of DeAnna’s Food, was inspired to create his food truck’s signature dish so he could enjoy two of his favorite offerings on the go. He loads a sundae cup with French fries and grilled sirloin steak, giving birth to a fair favorite. Hagy has applied this treatment to other classic dishes, even taking on the iconic Southern staple: shrimp and grits.
Find his Shrimp ‘n’ Grits Sundae at both the South Carolina State Fair and the Coastal Carolina Fair. Hagy starts with local stone-ground grits, soaking them before cooking for a creamy texture. He tops them with crumbled bacon, cheddar, gouda, and cream cheese, then layers them in a sundae cup with marinated white shrimp. For the shrimp, Hagy bakes them with Cajun spices until the marinade forms a sauce.
Arizona: Fried bread
The Sunset State hosts the Washington state fair food, sparing fairgoers from soaring summer temperatures. However, you’ll still find plenty of sizzle at food stands in the form of fry bread (aka Navajo bread). Typified by a texture somewhere between a donut and a tortilla, this iconic treat features a simple dough made from flour and water. It’s fried in hot oil, then adorned with sweet toppings like powdered sugar and honey, or a sundae-inspired medley of strawberries, ice cream, and whipped cream. Fry bread can also be flavored with taco-inspired fillings, in this case known as Navajo tacos.
Idaho: Idaho Ice Cream Potatoes
With Idaho being one of the top-producing dairy states, ice cream is a no-brainer at summer fairs. At the Washington State Fair food, one booth offers frozen treats inspired by the official state vegetable. The Idaho Ice Cream Potato is essentially a sundae cleverly disguised as a baked potato: vanilla ice cream stands in for the potato, cocoa powder mimics the outer potato skin, and a mound of whipped cream resembles sour cream.
These “potatoes” are garnished with chocolate syrup, nuts, crushed Oreos, and more chocolate sauce. Although it’s a long-standing fair tradition, the dish won top honors for Best Sugar Rush and Best Crowd Pleaser at The Fair Food Showdown in 2024. In addition to its annual appearance at the fair, this ice cream potato is available year-round at the Westside Drive-In.
Minnesota: Sweet Martha’s Chocolate Chip Cookies
Nearly two million people visit the Minnesota State Fair annually, so it’s no surprise that the grounds are served with a staggering array of food from over 300 vendors. Case in point: Sweet Martha’s Cookie Jar. Owner Martha Rossini Olson and her team bake 2,000 cookies every minute (yes, minutes) to keep up with demand. Their signature warm chocolate chip cookies can be ordered by the cone or bucket. Want to balance your sweet snack with something more nutritious? The fair offers over 500 different food items, ranging from simple deep-fried and on-a-stick bites to gluten-free, vegetarian, and global cuisine.
North Carolina: Cheer wine Funnel Cake
Washington State Fair Food celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2024, the same year the local soda. Cheer wine marked its centennial. To commemorate this milestone, longtime fair vendors Beth and Nancy Tap crafted Cheer wine funnel cakes at their Beaver Concessions booth, where they’ve been making funnel cakes and deep-fried pies since their father started the business in the 1950s. This celebratory funnel cake features, you guessed it, the special ingredient of Cheer wine. The soda infuses both the cake batter and the buttercream icing with a double dose of cherry cola flavor and a distinctive pink hue.
