State Fair Food Vendors Lure Workers on Their Lunch Hours

by Hanna Raskin, Posted Oct 14th 2009 @ 11:00AM

Acknowledging that even motivated eaters are struggling to complete their fried food checklists during a single visit to the fair, an increasing number of state fairs are now offering free lunch passes to stimulate more sampling.

Arkansas this week joined Missouri and Memphis's Mid-South Fair in pushing a program that re-imagines the midway as a vast office cafeteria, with chocolate-dipped fried bacon and hot beef sundaes standing in for grilled cheese sandwiches and Jello salad. Arkansas State Fair spokesman Ralph Eubanks said "Lunch at the Fair," featuring free parking and admission on weekdays from 11 a.m.- 1 p.m, was created in response to clamorous customer demand.

"We've had several requests and we decided to try it," Eubanks says. "We're making it logistically possible to provide workers with a quick corn dog."

Eubanks concedes most folks who punch out for a quick trip to the fair are unlikely to stick to what he calls "the old standbys": There are 30 new items available at the fair this year, including a taco in a bag and chicken parmesan on a stick. "We just kind of hit the jackpot," Eubanks marvels.

Eubanks refused to weigh in on whether a noontime meal of fried coke and batter-fried bacon might upset a worker's productivity. "Everybody's got to judge that for themselves," he said. But, he added, if a state fair lunch sits well with an employee's supervisor – and his or her digestive tract – it's an elegant solution to the eternal "how can I eat everything?" quandary.

"Your need all 10 days of the fair to get these foods done," he says.

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Tags: arkansas, fried food, FriedFood, lunch, Memphis Mid-South Fair, MemphisMid-southFair, southern states, StateFair

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Reader comments (Page 1 of 1)

10-15-2009 @4:42PM Baron said... We do the same thing at our MS State Fair. Seems like the quality of fair food has gone down in the last couple of years, but it is still very nice to be able to run in (for free) and grab some food.
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