The food contest grabs hearts and stomachs of fairgoers

Back by popular demand, “The World’s Greatest County Fair Food” Contest returns for its second year at the Clay County Fair, September 9-17. Out of 31 new foods at the Fair this year, the contestants have been narrowed down to five finalists.

“We knew we had to bring ‘The World’s Greatest County Fair Food’ Contest back when we saw how popular it was last year,” said CCF Manager Jeremy Parsons.  “I know fairgoers will enjoy all of the great new foods at the Fair this year.”

The five finalists (and the vendor) are as follows:

Waffle Chix (Waffle Chix) is a chicken tender skewered on a stick, baked inside of a waffle.

Thanksgiving Balls (Eat It) are a combination of an abundance of traditional vegetables (carrots, potatoes, corn, celery and sweet potatoes) with Iowa grown turkey – all rolled into a ball, breaded with an herb infused stuffing, deep-fried and drizzled with their homemade sweet ‘n spicy cranberry sauce.

Cookie Dough Kabobs (Dough Boys) are made with safe to eat cookie dough.

Hot Tenderloin Sandwich (Terry Town Enterprises) includes diced breaded tenderloin on bread with mashed potatoes smothered in pork gravy.

Breakfast Quesadillas (Regals Concessions) are made with sausage/egg, bacon/egg, steak/egg, or cheese/egg.

The winner will be announced at the contest judging, which will be held on Saturday, Sept. 9 at 2 p.m. in Central Park.

Other new foods at the Fair include:

Mini donuts with optional side to donuts of chocolate sauce or strawberries (J & F Mini Donuts)

Homemade mac-n-cheese, variety of different flavors (Spencer Dream Center)

Hostess Deep Fried Twinkies (Gobblestop Turkey Shop, LLC)

Jumbo stuffed lobster tots; jumbo stuffed buffalo chicken tots; jumbo stuffed Reuben tots; jumbo stuffed bacon cheddar tots (McLellan’s Concessions, Inc.)

Ollie’s Crab Fritters, made-from-scratch crab fritters with dipping sauce (Regals Concessions)

Quesadillas with homemade salsa filled with chicken, beef, steak, pulled pork, bacon and cheese; nachos topped with beef, nacho cheese, jalapenos, black olives, green onion and sour cream (Regals Concessions)

Cinnamon roasted nuts – almonds, pecans, cashews (Norman Phillips)

Waffle Stix – choice of bratwurst, breakfast sausage, Snickers or MilkyWay skewered on a stick, baked inside a waffle (Waffle Chix, LLC)

Not Your Mommas Taco – deep-fried flour tortilla, layered with tender, shredded, perfectly seasoned turkey and our fresh, home-made veggie slaw, topped with a sweet mango salsa (Eat It)

Pig wings – tender, slow-smoked pork on bone, covered in a sweet and spicy BBQ glaze (Eat It)

Safe to eat cookie dough – create your own dough, cookie dough shakes, blizzards, dough Klondike bars and a gluten free cookie dough (Dough Boys)

Iced coffees, banana bread and zucchini bread (Colonial Nut Roll Company)

Danish kringles, Danish letters, Danish krispies and cream horns (Village Café)