DES MOINES — Food vendors supply thousands of Iowa State Fairgoers with staples; however, an increasing number of attendees means more tastes and diets to cater to. Many vendors explore new recipes and recreate fair classics to appease the growing crowds. 

With the fair attendance record broken on Aug. 10, food vendors served over 120,000 attendees — all seeking food to fit their tastes. 

Annie Cook, the Iowa State Fair concessions and exhibits manager, said every year the fair is making improvements to the food scene. Cook said the staples of the fair will always have a strong presence, but this year new foods and new vendors are elevating fair food culture. 

“Food culture is an ever-changing thing, and I hope that, in time, we see more diversity in our offerings,” Cook said. 

Food entertainment, drink mixology, and “fair to flare” techniques add nuances to fair food and drink, Cook said. 

Lined up along the Richard O. Jacobson Exhibition Center Lawn, the fair’s top three finalists for the new foods competition buzzed with long lines of eager fairgoers waiting to try their new concoctions. 

First time fair vendors Winn & Sara’s Kitchen served a bacon cheeseburger egg roll, which landed a spot as a finalist in the competition. The item is a combination of the restaurant’s two best-sellers and highlights local ingredients — pork, dairy, and beef. 

Andrew Sayasane, the owner’s son, said serving food at the Iowa State Fair has always been a dream for him and his three brothers. 

“I’ve never been to all the fairs in the world, but I believe that our food culture is some of the best in the world,” he said. “We have the best fair in the world, hands down. It’s great to be here with all these vendors and everybody out here doing the same thing as we do, providing fun and entertainment for everyone here. It’s incredible, it feels really good to be a part of this family.” 

For food vendor Whatcha Smokin’, this year is the second time in the top three for new foods. This year, their smoke roll became an instant hit. 

Pitmaster Paul Babberl has been attending the Iowa State Fair his entire life and enjoys experiencing the event as a food vendor. Babberl encourages his crew to go around and try the other foods. 

Also in the top three, Destination Grille’s lobster corn dog created lines of people sprawling out into the street. The lobster corn dog consists of North Atlantic lobster tail battered and lightly fried topped with a lemon aioli, paprika, chives, and aged parmesan. 

Nate Adams, a fairgoer from Waukee, didn’t waste time — he stood near the line as he took a bite of his lobster corn dog. 

Adams said he recommends the item and will vote for it in the competition.  

“Corn dogs, I know they’re a fan favorite, but to me, they kind of feel like they’re a little bit passed time: We’ve transformed so much in terms of what foods are,” he said. “For being a top fair country in the world, I think we should transition our food balance into more modern foods.” 

Jonnann Benedict, managing partner of Destination Grille, said the lobster corn dog was a product of research into fair foods and showcases the restaurant’s lobster items. 

“Our restaurant is a little more elevated, and so we wanted to make sure that we were being true to who we are,” Benedict said, “You can get a lot of fried food, but we wanted it to still be different and elevated and be outside of the box.” 

Strict diet? No problem. 

Fair foods are a part of the experience; however, finding accessible foods can be frustrating and stressful for those with dietary restrictions. 

Destination Grille’s trailer is completely gluten free, and the crew is looking to create dairy free menu items for next year. 

The restaurant’s physical location in Grimes won Best Gluten Free Menu in the Des Moines Metro last year and has an 85 percent gluten free menu. 

Benedict said the restaurant takes its gluten free diets seriously and avoids cross contamination. 

“Our guests feel comfortable coming and dining with us, and so we wanted to give them that same comfort at the fair as well,” Benedict said. 

In a food scene dominated by meat, the Veggie-Table offers meatless versions of a fair classic, the corn dog. Founded in 1982, the Veggie-Table has been offering a vegan and vegetarian menu for generations. 

“It’s not easy being green, but we’re here for all the vegetarians, vegans, or people that aren’t vegetarian and just like to try something a little bit different,” owner Bryan McCoy said. 

McCoy’s grandparents started Veggie-Table because their daughter was a vegetarian and they wanted to provide options for fairgoers following meatless diets. 

Deep fried pickles, vegetarian and vegan corn dogs, and golden fried veggie samosas are crowd favorites. 

“I think the Iowa State Fair is for everybody, so you want everybody to have something that they can enjoy here,” McCoy said. “We had a woman come up the other day, she was about in tears, to say, ‘I’ve been to so many other state fairs, and this is the first time I felt included and seen.’ And that just gave me goosebumps. I felt so great about that because it was her first time having a corn dog at a state fair, and only because we had the vegetarian corn dog she was able to enjoy that, to feel like it was part of her experience. And that’s what we’re here for.” 

Although Veggie-Table’s corn dogs aren’t made of Iowa pork, McCoy said they still fit into Iowa because they are made of soy. Iowa farmers rank second nationally in soybean production, according to the Iowa Soybean Association. 

Drink mixology changes the beverage game

Fairgoers battle the heat with plastic cups of fresh-squeezed lemonade, cold beer, slushies, and other fair drink staples. Drink mixology creates more drink options for thirsty fairgoers. 

For those 21 years old and up, The Depot partnered with Barn Town Brewery, local to Des Moines, to add new alcoholic drinks to the menu, including a pineapple whip, spiked lemonade, caramel apple sour, margaritas, and pickle beer. 

The Depot bartender, Jon Muller, said the new drinks give fair-goers a better experience and also increase business. 

Muller said the new drinks have been received well by the amassing crowds and that the caramel apple sour is his best seller, followed by the pineapple whip and the spiked lemonade. 

Sara Bierbaum has been working for The Depot at the state fair for seven years. She said the new drinks please the crowd by giving them a variety and draw business to Barn Town Brewery. 

Fair-goers seeking non-alcoholic refreshments can find mock-tails at Destination Grille and Bubbly or can stick to the state fair classic: lemonade. 

Judy Hutchens, manager of a Lemonade Shake Ups stand, estimated the stand sells 200 souvenir lemonade cups a day. 

On attendance-record-breaking Saturday, Hutchens said the line to her stand was the longest it has ever been, and she sold about 2,000 cups of lemonade. 

Fair classics remain favorites

While some fairgoers try new foods, others stick to the classics. 

Bruce Visser of Atkins and his wife make an annual trip to the Iowa State Fair and always buy Barksdale’s State Fair Cookies. Visser stood in the shade under the Barksdale’s building, eating his cup of cookies before the chocolate chips melted in the heat. 

“Fair food is something we always look forward to, the staples. We don’t go for the crazy things, but we always eat the turkey legs, the pork chop on the stick, cookies, the milkshakes at the Dairy Barn,” Visser said. 

Working at Barksdale’s is 15-year-old Rome Brayton’s first job. Brayton said the experience has been positive, and he has had several repeat customers. 

“I know a lot of customers come in first thing, get a cup of cookies, and then on their way out they get a bucket of cookies to take home,” he said.

With production operation for 21-and-a-half hours a day, Barksdale’s produces nearly 35,000 cookies an hour. Annie Cook, state fair concessions and exhibits manager, said they sold more cups and buckets of cookies than ever before on the record-breaking Saturday. 

Using local grown Iowa corn and butter, The Corn Stand represents Iowa farmers, said helper Deanna Nair. The stand serves roughly 4,000 ears of corn a day. 

Corn dogs remain a staple of the Iowa State Fair, and Campbell’s Hand-Dipped Double Bacon Corn Dogs are a fair favorite. 

The corn dog stand dishes out a couple thousand hot dogs a day, and on Saturday the stand was busy for seven hours with lines 50 people deep, said Gage Campbell.

Campbell’s family has been perfecting the corn dog for generations.

“When people think of the fair, they think of corn dogs — that’s what my dad and grandparents have grown it to,” Campbell said. “It’s a homegrown Iowa company that brings Iowa here to the Iowa State Fair. A corn dog is what the Iowa State Fair is.”