For many Americans, the annual state or county fair serves as a backdrop for heartwarming memories: hyper-competitive sibling matchups at the ring toss, the view at the top of the Ferris wheel, and shared enjoyment of the deep-fried, generously sugary snacks. Along with our customers, here at Gurney’s we know all about the pride of bringing hard-earned vegetables to the county fair. Still, we all agree that one of the best parts of manning the produce stand was taking breaks for a deep-fried oreo.
We know that for our gardening team and customers alike, missing out on the county fair is an especially sad loss of COVID-19-related closures, and so, we thought that we’d indulge our sentimentality for a fun study on the fair foods we will miss the most.
We decided to look at the most popular fair food in every state to satisfy this craving. After all, we know that the Cheese Heads of Wisconsin might have different fair favorites than the sweet peach-lovers of Georgia. To find out the regional differences, we looked at Google Trends search data for popular fair food searches across the 50 states and Washington D.C.
We analyzed the results below and are excited to share the most popular fair foods nationwide with you – no tickets required!
As you can see with the map above, states had all sorts of different favorite treats. Not surprisingly, the majority of the most popular treats were the fat, sweet and salty foods we wait all year to buy, from kettle corn in Wyoming to pretzel dogs in Maryland.
Of course, there were some notably decadent fair foods that stood out on the map.
For instance, in Iowa, the most searched fair food was deep-fried butter. In fact, the snack was the focus of a New York Times article about the favorite fair snacks of Iowans, which described the first bite as having the “flavor of buttery French toast or a good cinnamon roll.”
Another notable trend in the national data was the popularity of state-specific flavors served up at the fair.
In Hawaii, the most popular fair food was the bright and refreshing Dole Whip, while a country boil was especially popular in South Carolina where buttery boiled seafood is abundant in the summertime. In Louisiana, where fair food stands are filled with Creole dishes, poutine was the most popular snack.
Given that some of the favorite foods in America were influenced by local flavors, we wanted to also look at regional trends.
Interestingly, each of four geographic regions had a different favorite fair food, including onion rings in the Midwest, chicken fingers in the Northeast, cotton candy in the South and chili in the West.
Of the four regionally popular fair foods, one notably popular dish was the West’s favorite, chili, which is the center of many hard-fought fair competitions across the country. In fact, according to the Arizona State Fair’s website, Arizonans can participate in multiple chili competitions to show off their spicy stew, including a children’s competition for young chili connoisseurs.
To finish things off, we looked at the national trends to see which was the most popular fair food overall.
The top fair food across the country was cotton candy, as it was the most searched treat in eight states across the country. The pink or blue fluff is something most of us have for the first time at a fair, inspiring cotton candy lovers to create everything from cotton candy cocktails to cotton candy makeup to get our sugary fix throughout the year.
Other especially popular fair foods were onion rings and chicken fingers, representing the battered-and-fried preparation that makes fair food so decadent, as well as chili and corn dogs which fuel us through carnival games at the fair.
While the blue ribbon for America’s most popular fair foods goes to cotton candy, the biggest takeaway we have from our analysis is that Americans’ favorite fair foods are as wide in variety as the grub offerings themselves.
And while fair cancellations this year means that we won’t be able to bring our harvest to produce competitions, the Gurney’s community will gladly try to recreate and remember our own favorite fair foods at home. If you’re interested in building up your own garden with produce to bring to next year’s fairs, check out our offerings of vegetable seeds and fruit trees.
And while we wait for when we can get back to the delicious stands of our local fairs, the Gurney’s team wishes you to stay safe and healthy.