Story By: Erin Zollars
Photos By: Sol Tucker
Dallas, TX–
Each year when it comes to finding a way to make your mouth water, the State Fair of Texas seems to do an amazing job of dropping your jaw and leaving you salivating over the wildest fried amazing food anywhere.
Since we have not made an annual trip to Dallas for the Fair since the start of the pandemic, we felt like the trip was long overdue. So much to see every year. This year, the annual event unveiled 41 new food and drink items. Where do we begin? Perhaps we start with—crunchy, buttery, creamy, sweet, dipped, fried, drizzled, stuffed, and of course, sprinkled with state fair pixie dust, or as we better know it, powdered sugar.
Our goal coming from the East Coast and being a seafood lover were the Cajun lobster bisque croquettes. They were large enough for their $18 price point, or 18 tickets. It did have lobster in it, but we will just leave that right there. More of a potato lovers delight then perhaps lobster.
Next up was the Fat Elvis. This is a biscuit with fried plantains, bacon, toasted marshmallow fluff and PB&J. Great flavor, but the biscuit was dry. This was definitely a one and done.
This year’s “most creative” winner at the Big Tex Choice Awards, the Cha-Cha Chata horchata milkshake. This is one of those drinks that has too much in the cup.
In celebration of their 80th Anniversary, Fletcher’s Original Corny Dogs will give away 80 Corny Dogs to the first 80 customers in line every Friday (starting Opening Day) throughout the run of the State Fair at all seven of Fletcher’s locations.
Clearly the food is the star of the show here. There plenty to do on the midway with games, plenty of shows, like the flying show dogs and the ever-popular exhibits of new cars and trucks which is one of the largest in the state and a staple of the event since 1913.’
Each night features major concerts the entire month on three stages. The Saturday night show featured the award-winning Ashanti. This seemed to be a huge draw just before the start of the Grambling vs Prairie View A&M just next door at the Cotton Bowl.
We suggest taking a look at the schedule and figure what part of the day is best for your visit. During the week the entry lines will be a little bit lighter then on Friday and Saturday all day. During the Texas vs Oklahoma weekend October 8 and 9th will be the busiest of the season. Plan accordingly.
The fair is open Sundays through Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Fridays through Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., with the last entry time being at 9 p.m.
Overall, the fair is a fun packed day or half day depending on your time. Be prepared for wait a bit for all of the new food options as most lines have been running an average 15-minute wait.
To check out all the schedule of events visit the website at
Home | State Fair of Texas (bigtex.com)
