Fun food a staple at Delaware State Fair

By Kirit Minhas
Posted 7/26/22

HARRINGTON — When it comes to food, the Delaware State Fair offers every typical dish in the books and even more, from blooming onions to doughnut burgers.

Little Richard’s Family …

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Fun food a staple at Delaware State Fair

Posted

HARRINGTON — When it comes to food, the Delaware State Fair offers every typical dish in the books and even more, from blooming onions to doughnut burgers.

Little Richard’s Family Café can boast over six decades of selling their fried and sugary American delicacies at the fair, becoming a staple with multiple locations across the fairgrounds.

“There hasn’t been 65 years gone by that we haven’t been here, so I’m sure we’ll be here for another 65 years,” said Clint Yoder, employee and grandson-in-law of the business’s owner.

He described attending the fair as a “summer tradition,” despite moving their restaurant from Dover to Pennsburg, Pennsylvania a few years ago.

“This is always like our home, our local state fair. So for us, as a family, this is like – all year, we look forward to coming. We have a lot of locations throughout the fairgrounds. We’re very close with a lot of the fair management, and we see a lot of the same customers year after year. It’s always important for us to come out and be a part of the community here,” said Mr. Yoder.

From hot dogs to turkey legs, Little Richard’s sells all of the staple fair foods. But there is one offering printed on the corner of their storefront that catches the eye a bit more than the others.

“We’ve been doing the doughnut burger for at least 10 years now. It was actually my uncle’s idea to start it with us. I’m not sure exactly where he came up with it,” said Mr. Yoder.

Over the past decade, the dish, which was inspired by a Paula Deen recipe, has become a regular order for many customers.

“In different areas, it’s been super popular. Here has been a pretty good one. We always use the Krispy Kreme doughnuts, so we’re always fresh, moist, soft.”

Across the path from Little Richard’s is another corner stand called Carnival Treats, decorated with several brightly colored flags boasting classic fair foods: fried Oreos, funnel cakes and their specialty, the colossal onion.

Alan Schweitzer, a Delaware native and the manager at Carnival Treats, has been working there since 2014 and travels up and down the East Coast selling these foods in several fair circuits.

“I handle most of the cooking in the back line of the truck. But I can run the whole stand by myself if need be,” he said.

His experience making and selling fair food has been an immensely positive one for him, and a journey he recommends to those who are also passionate about food.

“If you are young, try it, especially if you like cooking. If you like cooking, go out, do it, you’ll travel. You get to see many places. A lot of them will pay for your rent. It comes out of your pay, you get food, you get to meet wonderful people, you get to have an amazing experience traveling. I’ve been from New York to South Florida, West Palm. It hasn’t cost me really a dime but my time,” said Mr. Schweitzer.

The most popular dish customers order at Carnival Treats is either the fried Oreos or funnel cakes, he said.

“But out of our dinner options, definitely our blooming onion and our fried pickles,” Mr. Schweitzer said.

The blooming onion, also known as the colossal onion, also happens to be his favorite thing to cook.

“It just takes a lot more skill to do it and make it look pretty. But my favorite thing to eat is definitely the pickles – I love fried pickles.”

Despite his years of experience traveling on the fair circuit, Mr. Schweitzer still says Delaware has “the best small town fair.”

“A lot of the other small town fairs, they don’t really have parades like this, and we usually get pretty good band names that come out here. Everyone always loves the parades that come through. But other places, I mean they just blow you out of the water because they have money.”

The Delaware State Fair will be open until Saturday, with gates open from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. each day. Little Richard’s Family Café and Carnival Treats can both be found in the fair’s food court.

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