OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – Turkey thighs pass through the smokehouse at 8 a.m. each morning, hundreds of them on a rotating rack for three hours.
The first few dozen head to the outdoor grill before lunch under the sign at the Bennet Center where Maria Palafox watches people start to line up.
What do they have on the grill you’ll ask?
“Pretty much everything,” she replies. “Everything is fresh. We have the turkey thighs, the corn, the chicken, the hot dogs.
The sizzle of the grill rivals a nearby karaoke tent and halfway down, but the smell of the grill doesn’t compete if the wind is right.
For people who come to the fair just to eat, the Bacon Habit tends to be the first place they stop.
“We have people lining up for turkey thighs at 10 am,” says Palafox. “Sometimes we haven’t even prepared the food yet, but they’re willing to wait. “
“I have bacon wrapped chicken,” customers show us. “I haven’t tried it yet but it looks ‘bomb’.”
There isn’t a whole lot of sweetness here unless you count the corn or pineapple which has teriyaki chicken on it.
“It’s served on half a pineapple,” another customer shows us, “so it’s going to have that sweet flavor. “
The rest is all salty.
Hot dogs wrapped in bacon.
A turkey thigh wrapped in bacon they call the caveman.
“It’s kind of my choice,” another client tells us.
“Good to walk around the food,” asks a visitor?
“Well, there’s a lot of time to sit down after that,” he smiles.
Some customers come to the fair just to take away.
“I take them home to my husband,” says a customer, wrapping corn on the cob in foil.
For others, fair food is an annual pilgrimage, a base for food with handles.
Maria and her team will travel to Tulsa right after completing this fair.
Overall, they’ll be spending most of September in Oklahoma, which suits this California-based group perfectly.
“Are the people rather nice here,” asks the visitor?
“Yes!” She answers. “They are really nice. Really respectful. But they’re really going crazy for those turkey thighs.
Visit the Oklahoma State Fair website for more information.