SEMO District Fair visitors can fill up on variety of food

The oldest but most transient eatery in Southeast Missouri settled in Arena Park on Saturday and will remain there for three more days.

The SEMO District Fair set up and brought with it dozens of food vendors. From corn dogs to cotton candy and things on a stick, the food stands will entertain taste buds like the grandstand events.

K + P's Lil Kitchen brought "Old-Fashioned Homemade Ice Cream" in vanilla and will add any topping you want at no extra charge.

"It's made in mixers at home like you would make it," said Kaye Nash, the K in K + P's Lil Kitchen. Her daughter, Patty Moore, also helps with the stand.

Along with ice cream, stands offer ribbon fries, gyros and lemon shake-ups. Mr. Munchies Fun Foods makes entertaining fried mushrooms, egg rolls and steak on a stick. A few yards down you can get a pickle on a stick. Fried Twinkies, fried Oreos and fried Snickers get handed out of a stand in the other direction.

Kenny Horne, in his freshman year as a SEMO District Fair vendor, offers a little twist on a twisted treat. He puts cherries or apples on powdered funnel cakes and tops it off with whipped cream. He also has a strawberry-glazed funnel cake.

"It is a big hit," Horne said. He said his cakes sell like, well, hot cakes at other fairs and festivals in the six years he's been in the business. "It's really good."

Nancy's Fancy Kettle Korn has popped corn at the fair in Cape Girardeau for a decade. It's the stand beside the Arena Building entrance that sells 15-inch bags of golden kettle korn, blue kettle korn and red kettle korn.

They make the original sweet and salty treat and have their own twists: red hot cinnamon, blue raspberry, cherry, caramel and chocolate. They also have two types of Cheddar flavors.

"People will buy a bag of chocolate and a bag of cherry because they like chocolate-covered cherries," said Nancy Foor, who owns the Fancy Kettle Korn stand.

If you don't like the sweets, catfish plates, barbecue and chili dishes sit at stands a few yards away. And Johnson's Southern Style BBQ hands out turkey legs the size of Popeye's forearm.

The food stands at the SEMO District Fair are open daily until 10 p.m. through Saturday.

SEMO District Fair

Arena Park