Hamburg, N.Y. (WBEN) - The Erie County Fair is back this year and there is a whole new lineup of delicious local foods for you to try.
The 182nd Erie County Fair will officially welcome over 1 million hungry fairgoers beginning on Wednesday August 10th and conclude the 21st. During the 12-days of the Fair, fair attendees can feast on any of the 500+ food items made available at over 130 food stands. Some of the food ranges from long-time regional favorites to limited edition, fried novelty cuisine found only at the fair.
Fans will once again be able to vote for the "Best New Food at the Fair" in the Erie County Fair app as part of the Fair's New Food Showdown. Voting begins opening day, August 10th and will continue through the 17th, with the winner to be announced the following day.
New this year
New foods included in the New Food Showdown include: Korean Sweet Corn, Dirty Bird Chicken & Waffle Pizza, Cinnamon Toast Crunch Dessert Waffle, Fresh Brewed Boba Tea, Loaded Fried Pickle Nachos, Polish Steak and Poppers, Buffalo Chicken Feta Dip and the Meatball Gondola, to name a few.
Michael Pierro, owner of Mineo & Sapino Sausages is back again this year with a new creation looking to take home the New Food Showdown title again, with a Corn and Chorizo Waffle Dog, a chorizo dog made with "corn-waffle" batter.
"Wait until you taste this," Pierro says. "It's been a long process of development and I'm pretty proud of it. I think the flavors are pretty much on point. They're very crispy. The first sauce I did with Mike's Hot Honey, absolutely fantastic." Their signature chipotle queso is also an option.
Another new stand is Beyond Boba from Eastern Pearl, serving up a different variety of green, black and milk boba (or bubble) tea with four different kinds of bursting bobas, "We have strawberry, we have mango, passionfruit and we're working on a lychee flavor as well," said one of the Beyond Boba representatives.
For those looking for the best deals, discounts will be made available with over 30 coupons related to the food vendors and new this year will be 10 discounts made available for shopping at the Fair. Go to www.ECFair.org to print your tickets starting August 1st. Limited quantities are also made available at Guest Services booths during the fair.
Returning this year
Returning this year on Monday, August 15th to the fair will be the "Taste of the Fair" food festival which will feature 'taste' sized portions of over 116 foods for only $2. The full list is made available to you via the Fair's website and mobile app.
Commemorative 32 oz. Souvenir Mugs will also reuturn this year to the fair for $7, with refills available for $3 throughout the entire duration of the fair.
"With our favorite gate admission promotion, the canned food drive, guests can bring four cans of food or more to receive free admission to the fair that day. All food donations will benefit FeedMore of Western New York at a time of year when they need it most and we are really excited to be offering this opening day promotion once again," said an Erie County Fair representative.
To listen to the announcement and more from the food vendors, see the players below: