The Grand Fair Finale: Lerch’s Donuts
If you’ve never been to the Wayne County Fair you’ve probably never had Lerch’s Donuts. They are famous at the fair (the box even says “Wayne County Fair Style”).
Lerch’s Donuts was founded in 1932 by John Lerch, Sr., when he developed a method of frying soft cake donuts that are not greasy at his downtown Wooster bakery. In 1934, he began producing Lerch’s Donuts at the Wayne County fair, soon becoming the #1 food vendor at the fair. Many things have changed since the 1930s; the bakery has closed, but not the recipe or popularity of Lerch’s Donuts.
Ever since I was a little girl, I remember going to the fair and eating Lerch’s Donuts as soon as we arrived, there’s a booth right inside the front door and we always bought a few boxes before we left. This year was no different. Now Mr. Chiots is a big donut connoisseur, I remember when I first introduced him to Wayne County Fair style donuts so many years ago and he’s been hooked ever since. (did I mention Mr Chiots really likes donutes?)
This year we waited until we were ready to leave to pick up our donuts (didn’t want to carry them around all day). So I got out my money and stood in line-the LOOOOOOOONG line.
I ordered 2 dozen donuts: 1 regular sugar, 1 cinnamon sugar. You can even walk around the side of the building and watch them make the donuts, boy they sure can crank out those donuts.
As soon as we got our donuts we cracked open the box and each enjoyed one. MMMMM, tastes like we’re at the Wayne County Fair!
Now if you want to try a Lerch’s Donut you’ll have to go the Wayne County Fair or spot one of the 3 trailers that they move around to various events in Wayne County (it’s rumored that they’re branching out and have a stand a several other local county fairs). So what’s your favorite fair food?
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The Great Pumpkin
The fair is full of flowers & veggies galore. My mom always likes to go to the fair on opening day so the flowers are still fresh. We were there the day after so a few of them were already wilted, but most of them were still nice. There were the usual zinnias, sunflowers and hydrangeas and a few interesting flowers I had never seen before.
Poor Mr Chiots had to leave the flower barn early because all the pollen was making his allergies act up. Is it any wonder when this is what it looked like aisle after aisle?
I think my favorite thing about the fair is the vegetable & grain barn. This is where they keep The Great Pumpkin, the heaviest pumpkin grown in Wayne County.
There is one family in Wayne County that always wins the pumpkin contest. So how big was the award winner this year? This is the weight written on the pumpkin.
The vegetable barn is full of fruits & veggies of all shapes and sizes. The biggest and the smallest the ugliest and the most beautiful of each variety, they fill table after table.
There were also tomatoes galore, big ones, small ones, yellow ones, red ones, fat ones, skinny ones, smooth ones and bumpy ones. Many of them were heirloom tomatoes, which was nice to see.
I was glad to see some San Marzano Tomatoes. I’m planning on growing these next year for sauces.
And check out the size of this beet!
If only all of our harvest baskets from our gardens looked like this one. So what’s your favorite vegetable? I’ve always been a fan of The Great Pumpkins.
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Back to the Fair: And All American Affair
The Fair is definitely an All-American affair. It’s full of quintessential American things like: thrill rides, tractors, 4-H, livestock, flowers, antiques, greasy food with too many condiments, and people wearing out of date clothing. It just feels so American when you’re there.
One of the traditional American things about the fair is the grange exhibit. It’s a big round barn that’s full of All-American things like, fruits & veggies, antiques, flags, grains, etc. Each of the local granges does their own exhibit, some fill theirs with local produce & canned goods, others with antiques.
They’re different each year and always very interesting. This year the City of Wooster is celebrating their 200th anniversary so they Wooster grange did an anniversary display. There are so many interesting things in the grange exhibit. I always enjoy looking at the antiques.
This year there was a beekeeping exhibit in the grange, which was very exciting. I picked up a bunch of literature because I’m thinking of getting some bees next spring.
The school and 4H barns are also interesting. They are filled with all different kinds of project. This year I think every shop student decided to build a cornhole game. I always appreciate the beautiful tractors that were restored by students.
The greasy food is also an American thing. The smell of fried dough just lingers in the air.
All the condiment tables just gross me out. I don’t want to touch ketchup bottles that thousands of people have touched after going through the goat & horse barns and touching the animals. I’ll take my fries plain thanks.
You see so many interesting things at the fair, especially clothing wise. It’s always dicey taking a photo though (don’t want to get caught). Check out this guy proudly displaying his mullet and this other guy rockin’ the white jeans. 
And what’s more American than a Blue Ribbon?
So what’s your favorite All-American part of the fair?
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Back to the Fair: Fowl & Other Small Animals
I’ve been wanting to get pet chickens or ducks for quite a while. Perhaps next spring it will finally happen. Until then I’ll just enjoy walking through the poultry barn at the fair. There were so many different kinds of chickens. I have looked at many of them on My Pet Chicken and I always thought I’d love to get a few of these furry little bantams.
These little bantams would be great way to have chickens as pets where you’re not allowed. They look like little dogs, no one would know you had pet chickens in the yard.
Chickens really do come in all shapes and sizes and there was a great mix at the fair. There were big ones, little ones, white ones, black ones and then your normal everyday chicken looking chickens.
Next in line was the rabbit barn. Now I’m a big pet lover, so I’ve had all different kinds of pets growing up, but I have never had a rabbit (a couple guinea pigs yes). I have eaten rabbit (my dad is an avid hunter) I would LOVE to have a pet house rabbit, litter trained and running around the house. How great would that be. I’ve even looked into rescuing a rabbit from a shelter. But I just have cats for now. Checking out the rabbits in the barn was so much fun, they come in all shapes, sizes, colors and levels of fluffiness. They’re such cuties.
So any rabbit or chicken owners out there? or wannabe owners?
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The Funny Thing About the Fair
In case you didn’t read yesterday’s post about the Fair, you should. This is a continuation.
I’ve always enjoyed looking through the animal barns at the fair. There is a separate barn for each animal (there are each 2 for the cows and horses). The first barn we looked through was the pig barn and it was nap time, so all the pigs were passed out.
Here’s a future farmer for you!
One of the funny things about the fair is that after you exit each animal barn there’s a food stand that corresponds to the animals you just saw. So right outside the pig barn was this stand.
In the cow and horse barns all the animals are in their stalls backwards (just don’t get too close).
There was a HUGE Texas Longhorn on display (actually 2 of them). There’s a family in Wayne County that raises them. He was amazing!
And of course, outside the cow barns was this food stand.
Next up was the sheep barn and then on to the goat barn. Most of the sheep were freshly shorn, or wearing their little outfits to keep them clean.
And I must say, goats are some of the cutest things you ever did see. They’re so inquisitive and photogenic (I think they wanted me to take their photo)!
Well, this post is getting a little long so the small animals will be up tomorrow. So what’s you’re favorite large fair animal? I think mine are the goats.
