According to an analysis of more than 2,500 Yelp reviews, the Minnesota State Fair nabbed the No. 1 spot. Next on the list are state fairs in Wisconsin, Iowa, New York and Indiana.
The State Fair of Texas gets its moment as No. 6 of 10.
Dallas’ annual fair is a nationwide food trendsetter, a corny carnival where some of the strangest ingredients are baptized in sizzling oil and served on sticks. The State Fair of Texas’ Big Tex Choice Awards, which started in 2005, brought us Fried Beer, Deep Fried Butter and Fried Bubblegum.
We wondered if Minnesota, Wisconsin or Iowa could compete with Texas, where everything’s bigger and all that. But “in the Midwest,” Yelp said, “state fairs are serious business.”
(We’d make a joke here about how they’re just trying to enjoy life in the middle of the country without oceanfront property, but, well, Dallas doesn’t have much in the way of scenery, either. Does White Rock Lake count?)
Texas leads the pack with the “most outrageous” food, according to Yelp. Minnesota wins for stuff on a stick. They’ve even done spaghetti.
In a blurb about the Dallas festival, Yelp gives credit to Fletcher’s Original Corny Dogs, a company that’s been at the State Fair since 1942.
Rounding out the rest of the top 10 are The Big E, a fair in West Springfield, Mass., at No. 7; Florida State Fairgrounds at No. 8; Alaska State Fair at No. 9 and the N.C State Fair in North Carolina at No. 10.
Bonus points to the small but mighty fair in Alaska, which sells reindeer sausage and a 1,500-calorie burger with glazed donuts.