The Great New York State Fair, which has been operating since 1841, concluded its 13-day run on Monday. It showcased more than 10,000 livestock, live music at five stages and food vendors throughout the 375-acre grounds.

FOOD

In the Pan-African Village section of the fair stands Omanii’s Lemonade Heaven, a long-operating fair vendor at the fair. The food stand, newly rebuilt this year, has been serving homemade lemonade and hotdogs for the past 23 years. Now that his uncle has retired from running the stand, Ashanti Dickerson has picked up where his uncle Omanii, who is the namesake of the stand, left off.

“We have a lot of repeat customers that come back and they look forward to seeing us. Sometimes it’s their first stop, they come right to Omanii’s and get their lemonade,” Dickerson said. “It’s fast-paced, but we have a lot of fun. I got a good crew, it’s like family.”

Dickerson said that their lemonade is made from old family recipes and their most popular lemonade is called “The Wakanda,” which is based off of the fictional-country in the movie and comic “Black Panther.” It is a mixture of all of the lemonade flavors. The drink was originally called “The suicide” until the movie came out, then they decided to change the name, Dickerson said.

Omanii’s most popular dishes is its chili cheese dog and sweet potato cheesecake, Dickerson said. For the last seven years, the stand has had a separate menu with vegan and vegetarian options that Dickerson said was made for his vegan friends and a desire to provide food options for more people.

Across the fair from Oumanii’s is Poutine Gourmet, a food truck that serves the French-Canadian snack. Lisa Greene, the owner of the company said when Poutine Gourmet came to the fair three years ago, no one knew what poutine was, but is now very popular. Traditional poutine is French fries with gravy topped with cheese curds.

As her food is being prepared by owner Lisa Greene (center) and worker Casey Greene (right), Tamiko Smith (left) proclaims herself the number one customer of Poutine Gourmet’s food stand. Corey Henry| Photo Editor

The group even has a second fair location in The Eatery, an indoor dining pavilion. Greene said the group expanded to the second location in The Eatery because there was a demand for the poutine at the fair. Poutine Gourmet is from Connecticut, but travels to fairs and expos all over the east coast. Greene said that coming to the fair in New York was a way to add the state to Poutine Gourmet’s list of locations.

One day of the fair, Greene decided to keep track of how many poutines of each flavor were purchased. She said the two most popular were the bacon cheeseburger flavor and the original poutine.

Greene credits their repeat customers to the fact that they use gravy imported from Canada and real cheese curds that are shipped in every day. She said customers keep coming back because of its authenticity. This year, Greene and her partner decided to hire workers when they were previously making the food on their own.

Nancy’s, another food vendor, has been operating since 1976, making fried dough called the “elephant ear.” The business has added more food to their menu over the year, said Ricky Karre, manager at the carnival stand.

After adding funnel cakes, it then came gyros, Philly cheesesteaks and chicken quesadillas, as well as fried finger foods, such as fried pickles, mozzarella sticks and fried mac and cheese.

This year, the owners introduced the Philly cheesesteak fries, covered in cheesesteak, peppers, onions, mushrooms and mixed cheese on top. Cook Kenneth Thompson said he ate deep-fried apple pie log, one of their more popular dishes, for breakfast on Saturday morning.

For a sweeter fair food, Josephine’s Glazed Donuts creates donuts using yeast dough, said Troy White an employee at the concession stand. He said to make the donuts, the employees first press down the donuts, let them rise, place the doughnuts in the fryer, and top it off with glaze and their signature brown sugar.

White said the owners of the donut shop, Getry and Emily Miller, worked on the recipes for three months before perfecting it. Each donut is about three times the size of a regular donut.

White added he’s worked for the Millers for more than a year and has also traveled across the country with the stand — a testament to how much he enjoys working for the donut shop.

“If I didn’t like doing it and (didn’t) like working for the people, I wouldn’t be here,” said White.

With a variety of regional cuisines at the fair, fairgoers had the opportunity to try It’s a Utica Thing, a food truck that also has restaurants based in Utica and North Syracuse. This year, Charlie Digristina, the owner of the Syracuse location, said they debuted “The Thing,” which encompasses Utica greens, chicken riggies and tomato pie, mixed into a bowl that can serve up to three-to-four people.

Common ingredients on their menu items include staples like red peppers, onions and garlic, but Digristina said their food maintains a sense of originality.

“People try to duplicate it, but they can’t really duplicate it,” said Digristina.

ANIMALS

The Great New York State Fair hosts 10,000 animals — most on rotation — over the course of the 13-day fair. The animals at the fair include cows, horses, pigs and poultry, among others.

Most of the animals stay at the fair for three to six days before the next round of animals take their place. The Poultry Barn, which houses rabbits, cavies, fowl and pigeons, is the only barn that houses animals that stay for all 13 days of the state fair without rotation, according to the fair’s website.

Livestock owners come to the fair to show their animals in competitions. There are dozens of competitions during the fair, including judging of livestock and equestrian events, as well as rooster crowing contests and a goat costume contest.

Kylee Thomas prepares her cow for the show floor with the help of Joe Nash. Corey Henry | Photo Editor

Caretakers Hope and Faith Avedisian said they have been raising dairy cattle ever since they were children. Their responsibilities at the fair include watching, feeding and milking the cows, as well as cleaning their areas.

The Avedisians said their favorite memories from the fair include spending time with old friends at the fair as well as meeting new friends there.

Anthony Fay has never raised a rabbit before, but this is his fourth year working with the Old Timers Club, a rabbit breeding group based in Syracuse. Fay said he decided to get involved with the Old Timers Club after his sister worked with the group.

“I came here every year for like five years and just grew to love the animals,” Fay said. “Especially the Angora,” he added, referring to a breed of rabbit characterized by its long hair.

The Old Timers Club is in charge of the rabbit department at the fair, Fay said. The group brings in 40 different breeders from around New York state and monitors the well-being of approximately 700 rabbits, as well as the cavies or guinea pigs at the fair.

VENDORS

Second-time fair vendor, Martee Crowley, creates hand-painted glass work. With more than 16 years of experience, she sells her painted glasswork all over the country, but her company Murals and More by Martee is based in New Hampshire.

Doll Clothes by Linda had a booth in the Horticulture pavilion. Hidden in racks of colorful fabrics and patterns in a Horticulture pavilion booth were two women sitting and sewing Bitty Baby and American Girl doll clothes.

Martee Crowley, owner of Murals and More by Martee, sits at her booth selling her glasswork. Corey Henry | Photo Editor

Linda Senicle started making doll clothes in 1993. She said she started making Cabbage Patch Kids clothes, but when American Girl and Bitty Baby came out, she switched to making clothes for those dolls. The Syracuse-based company got their start at local craft shows, and still sells doll clothes at these local shows, she said

Patrons had the opportunity to shop crafts, gifts and artwork from vendors that come from all over to be at the state fair.

MUSIC

The fair featured musical performances including pop artist Gavin DeGraw and Pan-African Village performer DJ Detronix.

“It’s all about family here in Pan-African Village, we just have fun,” Lourie White, superintendent of the Pan-African Village said. “We’ve had some bands on stage this year that would make you lose your mind.”

A 20-year-old rapper, Juice WRLD, was booked the night before he performed, said public relations manager for the fair, Dave Bullard. Country star Granger Smith performed immediately after.

Rayguwan Sparks dances along to The Cha Cha Slide from his seat as fairgoers Lourie White, Regis Holman and Madea Holman cheer from the side. Corey Henry | Photo Editor

“I took today off work three months ago when I heard he was coming,” Matthew Youmans, a fair emergency medical technician worker said.

Sunday night brought hip-hop group, The Roots. Known for being the house band for “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” the group was formed by drummer Questlove and Blackthought in their Philadelphia high school. It’s now made up keyboards, electric guitars, trumpets, bass guitars and brass instruments.

Published on September 3, 2019 at 2:13 am