OT: Artery Clogging Fair Food
So this is extremely OT, but one of my favorite preludes to football season in the midwest is fair season. I always hit the Monroe County Fair for two reasons. The tractor pull and the Hot Wisconsin Cheese. They may be way overpriced, but I'll gladly pay it.
An evening of full pulls, dollar root beers from Bayou Billy and cheddar nuggets always leaves me with an expectant feeling for fall. I know many of us here have midwestern roots, whether we still live in the area or not. What fair food or activity will get you primed for the fall?
At The Illinois State Fair.
Mine is from Iowa state fair when I was in grad school there. Riblet sandwiches smothered in "Cookies BBQ sauce" and local brews to wash it down. (Like a McRib. Worst corn I ever had in my life though. I never got a good sweet ear the entire time in Iowa. Had to wait to my return to MI or farm stands in Southern Ontario.) Then got to see UofM at Kinnick Stadium twice.
I've lived in Iowa for about 5.5 years, and I haven't hit up the fair. Looks like fun, but just haven't had the time. Two weeks in August, fried anything...need to get there.
You really should. It’s a bit of a throwback and very wholesome than the MI state fair I had to base it on. The Iowans really get into the agricultural events/exhibits and draws people from everywhere in the state. Lots of the usual fair-type food and very good. (as I said the corn may disappoint, too much like field corn to me.)
One other thing I suggest. If you like baseball, make it a point to head out to some of the Single-A baseball games in the Iowa towns, Clinton, Waterloo, etc. It may have changed since I was there 15+ years ago, as Single-A has become business, but it was like a community event. We’d go on Sunday (or Saturday and stay the night) and usually after the game they’d have a BBQ for everyone. Sometimes they’d just open the fence in the outfield to a row of BBQ pits. About $8-10/plate and even the ball players from both teams would be there for their evening meal. I remember meeting Placido Polanco as one of the visiting players.
It was a couple weeks ago, but the cheesy fries at the Belleville Strawberry Festival sort of get me primed for my typical halftime trip to the concession stands in Michigan Stadium. There is something that says "home" about watching someone squeeze "cheese" onto your basket of fries from a machine that has an outdated "Ortega" logo on it.
Mine is the: Michigan Brewers Guild Summer Beer Festival.
I'll be the only guy (probably) there with an ND hat on. Lets get drunk together!
I'm a Michigan Alum and my buddy who is an MSU Alum is coming in for that beer fest from Ithaca, NY. Would you prefer we re-enact Denard to Roundtree beating Notre Dame or MSU's fake field goal in OT that beat Notre Dame? Nevermind. We will obviously do both.
Nah, I'll do the ass whoopin we laid on MSU last year, and you can't possible carry that giant horseshoe through security.
Cass and Berrian County fairs. Gotta go with the cheese on a stick, and lets not forget about the demolition derby's!
Oh how I miss a good demolition derby. A real demolition derby is getting harder and harder to find. It seems like more and more they are going with the offroad demolition derby (which is basically a more violent version of NASCAR on a small dirt oval). Not nearly as fun.
They have a traditional demolition and a combine derby at my (well, used to be my) county fair. Nothing like huge farm implements smashing into each other. Our fair is the last county fair in Ohio and is held when football is back in season. It's also right around my anniversary. We spent a day at the fair and got to see our wedding pictures at the photographer's booth before we left for our honeymoon. Good times.
As far as food, you can't beat a good polish sausage with onions and green peppers. I also love the fried cheese on a stick. I try to go to my HS athletic/band booster booth to support the kids. They always have some great chicken and noodles and homemade pies. Man, I wish summer was over! I'm sure a week of 90's and no power isn't helping with that. It's only supposed to be 103 today though, so I've got that going for me, which is nice.
yeah doesn't it feel like the heat is digging into your neck like a pitchfork?
/Caddyshack'd
I've been to the Berrien County fair almost every year since I was old enough to go. I love cheese fries, and you can't beat a plain ol' korn dog. I catch the dmolition derby when I can, it's definitely a great time.
Definitely the best fair in the area, are you from Berrian County? I live in Cass County but it's a real short commute for me to make it out every year.
Are there any fairs around the Cville or central VA area?
The Krispy Kreme burger: burger, bacon and cheddar cheese wedged between a warm Krispy Kreme donut sliced in half.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luther_Burger
Torn between desperately wanting to try it (they have one for brunch at ChurchKey in DC) and being repulsed at the idea.
Never actually had it nor will I ever. But down here in good ole' Iowa country it's definitely done. I've always loved me a good corndog and funnel cake though (with a freshly squeezed lemonade). Simple, but so delightful.
the Dane County Farmers' Market encircling the capitol building here in Madison. they say it's one of the biggest farmers' markets in the nation. I tried some of that spicy cheesey bread for the first time the other weekend, it was pretty solid.
That stuff is delicious.
While my wife traipses around the Market I hang out on the patio at Genna's. They have an ubelievable Bloody Mary bar.
that ... is an incredible idea.
I've been trying to avoid unhealthy food, but I had this craving for donuts from the fair tonight. Yummm
Can't get much more AMERICA than this: And as for food I always get refill after refill of rootbeer and a lot of elephant ears or funnel cakes.
The supermods were always my favorite.
Though there's something to be said for when a Super Farm does a wheel stand when they take off.
Pardon my ignorance, but what exactly are the tractors supposed to be pulling?
It goes back to the days of horse pulling. The heavier plow your horse can pull, the deeper and better it can churn the earth for planting. Farmers started having competitions to see whose horse could pull the heaviest plow the furthest.
Eventually, tractors overtook horses and heavier plows could be used. Modern pulling sleds are essentially giant plows with moving, weighted boxes. As the pulling sled moves down the pulling track, the weighted box moves forward causing the plow to dig deeper and deeper into the earth until either the tractor is stopped, or it passes 300 feet, considered a "full pull".
IT's a stupid, stupid competition that is loud and smoky and angry and I love it.
Went every year until I left the area about 5 years ago. It's not half bad. Gotta go with an elephant ear on Demo Derby night.
They've had a pretty good track record at pulling in up and coming bands as well. Dierks Bentley was there one year.
This just may be one of the most epic MGoThreads ever. Deep fried twinkies from the Milford Memories festival FTW
Deep fried cheescake and garbage plates. Just last night I made some frank n beans for a stag/camping party weekend and put 17 slices of american cheese in it. Mmmmm.
No better cure to a hangover has been found by mankind yet.
I certainly wasn't clear in my first post, but yes, it should be devoured before one goes to sleep after drinking 30 beers.