At Lakefair, nonprofits dish out a smorgasbord of tasty gut bombs for you to try

Lakefair, now in its 60th year, is five days of rides, shows, jaywalking pedestrians and food. Lots and lots of food.

The fair’s food row — a baker’s dozen of booths operated as fundraisers by local and regional nonprofits — is a popular lunch destination for many.

Like a lot of things these days (and like Lakefair itself), food row tends to polarize folks. Some love it; some love to hate it — and some might feel a little bit of both.

This year, the fair, which opens Wednesday, will include a few new treats along with many old favorites.

One new dining option has an island vibe: The Gig Harbor-based Pacific Ohana Foundation will serve teriyaki, kalua pork, smoky and slow cooked, and Hawaiian banana bread.

Also new on the menu is Frito pie, available at a booth run by the Olympia Fraternal Order of Eagles. The “pie” combines corn chips, chili and cheese. Pico de gallo, onions and lettuce can be added.

The Eagles tested Frito pie against a taco in a bag, made with seasoned ground beef and tortilla chips, and the pie won hands down, said Larrel O’Keefe, who’s organizing the booth.

“One of the people helping said Fritos and chili are all the rage right now at other festivals,” O’Keefe said.

For those looking for something a bit less over the top, the Eagles will have cups of chili available, too.

But who at Lakefair is looking for something less over the top? Not many folks, apparently. O’Keefe suggests you get a cup of chili to add to your hot dog — which will be available from the Thurston County Republican Central Committee, also known for its garlic fries, and from the Olympia Host Lions Club, whose Burger Den goes beyond the obvious.

If your tastes run more to burgers than hot dogs, you have plenty of options.

There’s the famous Demo burger, known for its caramelized onions. So beloved is this burger that it’s been reviewed on Yelp, where more than one reviewer mentions that it’s irresistible even to Republicans. (Note, though, that those reviews, which give the booth 3  1/2 stars out of a possible 5, predate the most recent presidential election.)

How good are Demo Burgers? “One year, I ate them three days in a row,” said Adrienne Kuhn of Olympia.

But they aren’t so good that they’ve put Lakefair’s other burger booths out of business.

Though its one-pound serving of curly fries is frequently mentioned as a Lakefair favorite, the Saint Martin’s Alumni Association’s crowning achievement is likely the Saint.

“That’s their biggest burger,” said Joyce Rommel of Olympia, who organizes food row and volunteers with the alumni. “It has two patties, two pieces of cheese and two servings of bacon.”

The Lions, meanwhile, are proud that their burgers are the only ones at Lakefair cooked over an open flame.

“We do a hamburger, and we do a double hamburger, and we do a cheeseburger, and we do a double cheese burger,” said John Bergvall, who manages the Burger Den. “And then the customers have their choice of sautéed onion or raw onion, or they don’t have to have any onion at all.”

Take that, Democrats.

Lakefair also boasts barbecued ribs and chicken, German sausages, gumbo and po boys, Philly sandwiches, and crepes both savory and sweet.

Missing this year are the Tumwater Rotary’s corn dogs and the Olympia Kiwanis Club’s roast beef sandwiches — the favorite of Stephanie Johnson, the city of Olympia’s arts and events program manager.

If they were your favorite, too, might we suggest you take comfort in dessert?

Besides the banana bread and crepes, you can get strawberry shortcake, mud pie and elephant ears, which are big in more ways than one.

Altrusa International of Olympia typically sells between 8,000 and 10,000 of the mounds of deep-fried dough, and no one ever said they were good for you.

When an Olympian reporter asked her last summer to comment on the treats’ nutritional value, longtime Altrusa volunteer Anita Pennington replied, “They couldn’t be worse.”

This story was originally published July 7, 2017 at 1:00 PM with the headline "At Lakefair, nonprofits dish out a smorgasbord of tasty gut bombs for you to try."