Fair Food Favorites: Indulge in Soft-Serve Ice Cream and More at the Elkhart County Fair

What's the best thing you ate this week at the fair?

Scot Wolf, one of the guys I work alongside at the Goshen Noon Kiwanis booth, said Thursday evening, “I think I could eat ice cream every day of the fair.”

He said it again today and we went and got more ice cream.

Those of us who love the Elkhart County 4-H Fair and spend time there find our go-to items to stay nourished. I’m at the fair far less than when I was “Fair Boy,” the reporter primarily responsible for covering the fair for The Elkhart Truth newspaper. Therefore, I don’t eat as much fair food.

I muse about what I’m going to eat far longer than when I was grazing the entire nine days. But I can’t remember the last time I was at the fair and didn’t have ice cream.

Usually, it’s from the Dairy Bar along Food Row. For decades, the Elkhart County Dairy Producers have sold soft-serve ice cream. This is the one time of the year I go out of my way and even stand in line for soft-serve. Most of the time, it’s not as luscious as hand-dipped ice cream, which tends to have more butterfat.

You don’t see nutritional info posted in many spots at the fair, but on the side of the Dairy Bar, I spotted a sheet that indicates this is a mix from Country Fresh with 5 to 6 percent butterfat. It’s good enough it doesn’t need those mix-ins and from what I see, most people do not bother with them at the fair.

At $3 for a small, the ice cream feels like a fair bargain, particularly if one of the teenage volunteers earning money for their team by working in the booth piles the ice cream high above the rim of the cup. 

Tomorrow, I’ll get my last Dairy Bar ice cream for another 356 days. I’ve even got a coupon or two from Everence that I have to use, so I’ll buy one to share.

Because of my love for the Dairy Bar, for many years I wasn’t a regular at the Strawberry Shortcake booth nearby. Fair board members I knew would ooh and aah. And then some of the folks in the Kiwanis booth did the same.

I have to say that while there’s nothing special about the biscuit that goes in the bottom of the cup of strawberry shortcake, the strawberries that go on top are special. They’re just sweet enough and have the right amount of liquid to soak into the biscuit. The soft-serve vanilla on top isn’t as good as the Dairy Bar’s, but it’s good. I like getting bananas with mine as well.

The peach cobbler that’s sometimes available from the booth along Food Row is good, but it’s really sweet and is 50 percent more expensive ($9 to $6 for a small shortcake). 

What’s the best thing I’ve eaten in the first eight days of the fair?