Lord, I was Born a Writing Man, Trying to Make a Living and Bloggin’ the Best I Can.

*Vague headline allusion courtesy of the fact that the Allman Brothers Band are Grandstand headliners tonight.

After 45 years of attending the fair every year and 30-some years of writing about it, I thought I’d tried every fair food that I’d even conceivably find tasty and interesting. Not counting of course, the new foods that hit the market each year, which must be tried in this line of work.

But I was wrong.

In recent days I’ve discovered two long-time foods that, I must say, are terrific. First, the shaved pork tenderloin sandwich at Donna’s Bar-B-Q.

Donna’s isn’t in my usual food-grazing alley located generally around and east of the grandstand, so apparently I’d never wandered by when real hungry. But Monday, while checking out the cattle barn, serendipity called and my stomach answered.

For $6, the tasty sandwich, topped with Donna’s special barbecue sauce and fried onions, seemed a fine fair bargain. Even better than fine, so I wondered, who is this Donna? And where has she been all these years?

more inside

Turns out she’s Donna Battcher of Woodbury, and for years she’s been right there, on the corner of Leggett and Judson, near the west end of the Coliseum. She started selling Fisher peanuts from a small stand there in 1983. In 1990, she told the fair she was sick of working for peanuts (I can’t take credit for that; it’s her joke) and got upgraded by the fair board to a barbecued ribs stand. She added the shaved pork sandwich five years ago, and in 2005, added organic brats to the menu.

She also sells her own brand of barbecue sauce, in four varieties, Donna’s original, organic original, organic honey mustard and organic onion. Her booth has grown over the years, from the original 8 feet by 8 feet to 8 by 16, to the shiny new trailer, 8.5 by 20, just three years old and still with  that food trailer smell.

Long-time customers stopped by to say hello while she and I chatted, and she said much of the fun these days is seeing those regulars, year after year.

Donna gets help in the booth from grandchildren and friends since her husband died years ago.  And even though she’s certainly earned the right to slow down a bit, she’s at the booth from 6:30 a.m. to dark, for all 12 days of the fair.

Oh yes, the other fair food that I’d somehow avoided all these years but now suddenly crave: cheese curds.

I’ll admit to certain snobbishness about this quintessential fried fair fare in my misguided past. I figured it was the epitome of all that is unhealthy about eating out here, and adopted a less-greasier-than-thou attitude. Besides, there were plenty of other options with much shorter lines.

But on Sunday, son Andrew — gustatorily-wise beyond his 14 years, stood in a long line for curds, then graciously offered one to his old Daddo. I demurred, but then accepted his selfless notion.

AND I LIKED IT.

Just a few from the paper tub were enough, maybe four or five. But that handful of battered and deep-fried cheese was way, way better than I could have imagined. And now I mourn those wasted years. (Which would have made me ultra-waisted, I guess.)

I’m writing each of these items as I come across them at the fair, but I consider each to be part of a bigger whole. So you can follow along by reading all of my State Fair posts when you click here