LIMA — For fair-goers whose main objective is to consume a wide variety of food at the Allen County Fair, Tuesday was the perfect day.
Twenty-one food vendors offered up samples of their cuisine as part of the first-ever Taste of the Fair event, which ran from noon to 8 p.m. Chinese food, tenderloin sliders, tacos, pasta and more were available for $2 each. Darlene Holler, fair concessions manager, said she got the idea from a magazine and decided to bring it to this year’s Allen County Fair.
“It gives people a chance to taste something they maybe wouldn’t have tried otherwise,” Holler said. “It’s something different at this year’s fair, and hopefully it brings more people to try the food.”
Vendors that participated in Taste of the Fair included those who have been setting up shop at the fair for decades, along with newcomers bringing their style of food to the area for the first time.
One new food vendor is Bayou Billy’s, which specializes in Cajun food. Working the grill at the concession stand was Dennis Hanson, who said his uncle is the one who started selling Cajun food. Around 10 years ago, Hanson said he and his family began selling the food at various festivals, concerts and fairs around the country.
Hanson said that, to the surprise of many, spending months at a time with his family is his favorite part of working as a traveling vendor.
“People will say working with your family is the worse thing, but to me it’s the best thing,” Hanson said. “We have our differences, but there’s going to be a point in time where we’re going to look back and really cherish these times.”
Another family-owned concession stand participating in Taste of the Fair was J & M Homemade Ice Cream, which is based in Elida. Unlike Bayou Billy’s, J & M has been coming to the fair since the business began 18 years ago. Though the company makes custom orders year-round for events such as weddings and birthdays, they said the fair has always been a big part of their lives.
“This is our home fair,” said Lynelle Troyer, whose grandfather, Tom Miller, started the business with his wife. “I grew up in 4-H, as did my siblings, and my grandfather was a 4-H adviser. We’re really involved with the fair itself and we always have been.”
They use their own family recipes and an old-fashioned ice cream maker to make their products, which is uncommon nowadays, J & M co-owner Elaine Troyer said.
“You don’t see homemade ice cream much any more, so we’ll have customers come up that have never had homemade before,” Elaine said. “It’s nostalgia, it’s unique and it’s good stuff.”
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