7 Texas State Fair Foods Locals Line Up For Every Single Year
Fletcher’s fries something close to 550,000 corny dogs at the State Fair of Texas over one 24-day run, and the same family has run that batter since 1942.
That’s three generations at the fryer.
These are the Texas State Fair foods locals build their whole day around, regardless of what new dish wins this year’s award.
1. Jack’s French Frys
Jack’s French Frys have held the same spot at the State Fair of Texas since 1945, longer than many of the rides on the Midway.
The Pyland family hand-cuts the potatoes themselves, batch after batch, all fair long.
No shortcuts.
The stand still moves around 40,000 orders of fries across one 24-day run, per the food writers at Tasting Table who track the fair’s numbers each year.
2. Fletcher’s Original Corny Dogs
Fletcher’s Original Corny Dogs trace back to 1942, when brothers Neil and Carl Fletcher first battered a hot dog and dropped it in the fryer at Fair Park.
Getting it right took patience.
It took the brothers 12 years to lock in the exact batter they still use, and the family guards the recipe like a state secret.
Fletcher’s fries close to 550,000 of them at the fair every year.
The Fletcher name is still on this year’s ballot too: Beck Fletcher is a 2026 Big Tex Choice Awards finalist with a chocolate spin on the family’s original.
The Math Behind Fletcher’s Corny Dog Count
Fletcher’s corny dog count breaks down to about 22,900 a day across the State Fair of Texas’s 24-day run.
Multiply that pace by the family’s 84 years at the fair, and Fletcher’s has fried something like 46 million corny dogs since Neil and Carl Fletcher started frying them in 1942.
3. Fernie’s Funnel Cakes
Fernie’s Funnel Cakes started as a vacation souvenir, when Wanda “Fernie” Winter tried her first funnel cake on a trip to Branson, Missouri, then brought the idea home to the State Fair of Texas in 1980.
She never left.
Fernie’s daughters, Christi Erpillo and Johnna McKee, run the stand now, selling thousands of funnel cakes across every 24-day run, per the food writers at Tasting Table who track the fair’s biggest sellers.
The family has already won three Big Tex Choice Awards for funnel cake spins over the years, and for 2026, the same two sisters are back on the finalist list with a frozen espresso-tini bar.
4. Turkey Legs
Turkey legs have been a State Fair of Texas fixture since the Nevins family opened their first concession stands in 1949.
The family is now on its fourth generation, running nine stands at Fair Park that still serve turkey legs, funnel cake, and corn dogs side by side.
Four generations, one family.
Josey Nevins Mayes represents that fourth generation, and she’s chasing her own win in the 2026 Big Tex Choice Awards with a frozen peach bellini float.
Turkey legs still make the State Fair of Texas’s own list of classics fairgoers count on finding at Fair Park every single year.
5. Fried PB&J
The fried peanut butter, jelly, and banana sandwich known at the State Fair of Texas as the Fried PB&J won the very first Big Tex Choice Award for Best Taste back in 2005, the fair’s first year handing out the honor.
Abel Gonzales still runs that fryer.
Same fryer, new decade.
Gonzales batters the sandwich fresh, quarters it, and dusts it with powdered sugar, the same process the stand has followed since it grew out of a family kitchen.
The stand fries somewhere between 15,000 and 20,000 of them across a single fair, two decades after the idea first won.
6. Deep-Fried Cookie Dough
Deep-Fried Cookie Dough followed the Fried PB&J onto Abel Gonzales’s stand at the State Fair of Texas, winning its own Big Tex Choice Award for Best Taste in 2007.
Two wins, one Gonzales.
Gonzales batters the dough cold, drops it into hot oil, and serves it with the center still gooey, a trick that keeps around 22,000 orders moving every fair, per Tasting Table’s count of the stand’s numbers.
Locals who skip the newer contest entries every year still make room for the cookie dough, an old favorite standing next to whatever wins this year’s award.
7. Stiffler’s Fried Oreos
Stiffler’s Fried Oreos turns a package of Double Stuf cookies into a State Fair of Texas staple, battering the cookies whole before they hit the fryer.
Simple idea, huge line.
Stiffler’s Concessions moves more than 86,000 orders of them over the fair’s full run, per Tasting Table’s tally of the stand’s numbers.
The stand keeps the recipe unchanged, which is exactly why regulars circle back to it instead of chasing whatever’s new.
Psst! How much do you know about the State Fair of Texas? Take our quiz and see if you can ace it.
Quiz
Texas State Fair IQ
Answer nine questions on the State Fair of Texas’s history and records. We bet you can’t get them all right. Prove us wrong?
The State Fair of Texas held its very first fair in what year?
New Names on the 2026 Menu
The State Fair of Texas doesn't hand its Big Tex Choice Awards out lightly, and CBS News Texas reported a record 77 entries from 46 concessionaires for 2026, the most in the contest's history.
Fifteen finalists made the cut this year, split across Savory, Sweet, and Sipper categories.
Tough odds, either way.
The Savory side includes a Golden Crunch Melt and a plate of Nacho Wings, while the Sweet lineup pits a Texas Pecan Praline Cheesecake Cone against Fletcher's own chocolate-dipped corny dog entry.
Judges will pick the winners once the fair opens at Fair Park, and every one of those new dishes will compete for attention against the stands that never bothered entering this year.
The Sipper category is brand new for 2026, with five finalists that include a Sunset Soft Serve Rita and a Tropical Coco Fresca.
Dickel's Texas Two Step Tacos and a Flamin' Crunch Pizza round out the Savory finalists, while a Berry Me in Matcha entry gives Sweet another contender beyond the cheesecake cone and the corny dog.
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