It’s that time of year when the annual Marshfield Fair happens. This is a popular local fair where all the Massachusetts farmers get to show off their agricultural skills & compete to win for the best pumpkins, pigs, and honey. This is also a day when we as attendees get a pass to eat ANYTHING fried.
I’ve been coming here ever since I was a tween. The fair always felt so big, like there were endless rides, games & food vendors. Of course what always caught my eye was the delicious street food. As a child I enjoyed the rides. Especially anything that went upside down or lost gravity, I would have to get on! The day would always end with candy apple or some cotton candy.
As I walked through the entrance gates this year, that amazing smell of fried peppers & onions cooking brought me right back. Although over the years the cost of everything has inflated. Just to park and get through the gates costs us $30.00. We walked around for a bit, had a snack or two but to my disappointment, nothing tasted as I had remembered. At first, I thought “am I simply too old to enjoy the fair anymore?” Has my palate become too sophisticated for simple fair food?
I was seeking out those fries, where you can watch the vendor put a whole potato in the slicer, drop it in the deep fryer and serve it to you so hot they would burn your mouth. Not this time around. I ordered hand cut fries but they were served from a basket that had been sitting under a warmer. Looking around almost all the vendors had pre-cooked their food and it was sitting under the warmers. Yuk! Very disappointing.
In all my culinary explorations, I have never tried a fried candy bar. You know the ones everyone raves about, served on a stick. Today was the day I decided I had to least try it once. Well… let’s just say the craze did not live up to the hype. I got a fried 3-Musketeers bar, it was okay, no wow factor- melted candy bar in tempura batter. A least I know what I’m not missing. LOL.
The whole fair experience was not a complete bust. I did have a great Raspberry-Lime Rickey from a local vendor. For those readers that are from New England, if you remember Brigham’s Ice Cream they made the best. The ingredients consist of raspberry syrup, lime juice & seltzer water. So simple but so refreshing. Overall it was a good day, I enjoyed the farm displays of vegetables and seeing all the animals. I watched the lumberjacks show off their skills and bought some good local honey.
