Every September, Frederick seems to have the same conversation about The Great Frederick Fair: What are you going to eat this year?
So before I went to the Fair, I asked my Housewives of Frederick County Facebook followers one simple question: What’s the ONE food you absolutely have to get every year?
I knew people would have opinions, but I wasn’t expecting the question to reach more than 85,000 people. I heard plenty about Hemp’s, Coy’s Italian sausage, pickle pizza, J.B. Seafood, root beer floats, apple dumplings and cinnamon rolls.
But mixed in with all those food recommendations were stories. People told me about foods their parents bought for them as kids, stands their families still visit every September and traditions they’ve now passed down to their own children and grandchildren.
That gave me a pretty good excuse to spend a day at the Fair with my husband and brother-in-law, trying as many of your recommendations as we reasonably could. And somewhere along the way, this story became about a lot more than what we ate.
More Than 200 Years of Frederick Fair Memories
There’s a reason so many Frederick Fair traditions span generations. The roots of The Great Frederick Fair go back to 1821, when the Frederick County Agricultural Society was organized, followed by the first Cattle Show and Fair in 1822. The Fair eventually moved to its current East Patrick Street location in 1868.
After I asked readers about their own Fair traditions, I started hearing stories that went back much further than I expected.
One woman told me that she and her husband were both involved in 4-H at the Fair. Their children followed, and now their grandchildren are involved too. As she put it, “Our legacy continues.”
Others remembered when Frederick County schools closed for Fair Day, kids received special passes and those passes were collected for a bicycle drawing at the grandstand. There were memories of the Double Ferris Wheel, harness racing and afternoons spent running around the Fair with friends while Mom stayed in the grandstand.
Then there were the smaller family traditions. One family always visits the baby pigs and goats before getting milkshakes at the dairy barn. One reader grew up visiting the crafts, then the animals and finally the rides, and now follows the same routine with her own children.
One of my favorite stories came from a woman whose grandfather played the same pool-table game every year. He was apparently so good that the operators eventually limited him to playing once a year. He used that one chance to win his granddaughter a big stuffed animal, and she can still remember some of the ones he won.
That’s what struck me most about these stories. Eventually, you’re no longer the kid being taken to the Fair. You’re the one taking your own kids, often carrying along traditions you didn’t even realize you’d inherited.
The Great Frederick Fair Foods We Wait All Year For
Of course, we still need to talk about the food because, if my original Facebook post taught me anything, it’s that Frederick has some VERY strong opinions about what you should eat at the Fair.
Instead of ranking them, I rounded up some of the foods locals told me they look forward to year after year, along with a few my husband, brother-in-law and I tried for ourselves.
These were the foods that rose to the top of my original reader recommendations, although some came with much better stories than others.
Coy’s Italian Sausage
Coy’s was probably the biggest surprise for me.
I’d heard of plenty of Frederick Fair food favorites, but I had no idea how devoted people were to Coy’s Italian sausage until I asked.
People told me they count down the days until they can get it. One reader said her mom always got Italian sausage at the Fair when she was growing up, and she has continued the tradition herself. Another told me her husband and sons get Coy’s sausage every day of the Fair, while someone else simply said, “Nothing compares.”
Fair food isn’t always just about what tastes good. Sometimes it’s about eating the same thing you’ve looked forward to every September for years.
Hemp’s Meats
If there was one name I expected to hear when I asked Frederick about favorite Fair food, it was Hemp’s, and you all did not disappoint. Readers mentioned everything from its beef sandwiches to BBQ.
One reader even gave me very specific instructions: Get the pit beef sandwich platter, add tiger sauce and BBQ, then put the slaw AND the fries right on the sandwich.
Well, okay then!
When we went to the Fair, there was a line at Hemp’s, which seemed appropriate after hearing from so many people who make it a regular stop. But the line moved fast!
I especially loved hearing from one reader whose family checked on her husband’s dahlias each year, ate dinner at Hemp’s and then walked around the Fair. When you repeat something like that enough Septembers in a row, dinner becomes part of the memory.
J.B. Seafood
Of course seafood came up in the recommendations. Because Maryland.
J.B. Seafood was mentioned repeatedly when I asked readers about their Fair favorites, and this was one stop where we took our research responsibilities especially seriously. We tried both the soft shell crab sandwich and the fried oyster sandwich.
There’s something very Maryland about walking around a county fair eating a soft shell crab sandwich. Funnel cake and fried Oreos may get most of the stereotypical Fair-food attention, but we’re bringing seafood into this too, and I’m perfectly okay with that.
Spaghetti Eddie’s Pickle Pizza
Pickle pizza was one recommendation I wasn’t expecting to see quite so enthusiastically, specifically the version from Spaghetti Eddie’s Pizza and Pasta.
One reader even issued an important warning: “Don’t fall for the dupes.”
Whether you’re firmly on Team Pickle Pizza or can’t understand why anyone would put pickles anywhere near a pizza, this is definitely one Fair food people have opinions about.
More Frederick Fair Food Favorites
Not every food that came up again and again needs its own story, but I don’t want to leave out the rest of the favorites Frederick locals told me they look forward to every year.
Pighole’s Pigslop was another repeat recommendation, along with Pretty Good Food’s crab rangoon tater tots for something a little less traditional. Libertytown Unionville Lions Club pizza also has its loyal Fair fans, while Uncle Moe’s catfish dinner was another reader favorite.
On the sweeter side, warm apple dumplings with vanilla ice cream and cinnamon rolls both earned spots on my original reader-generated list. We tried both while we were there, along with a root beer float, which came with one of my favorite endorsements: One reader told me that for at least the last 20 years, her Fair tradition has simply been “the root beer man.”
And if you happened to see my cinnamon roll Reel afterward, you already know that particular piece of “research” wasn’t exactly a hardship.
It Was Never Really Just About the Food
When I went back through the video I took that day, I realized some of my favorite clips had nothing to do with what we ate.
I had filmed the cows and goats, baby pigs, harness racing, classic cars and the Ferris wheel in the midway. Without really intending to, I’d captured many of the same things people had mentioned when they shared their own Fair memories with me.
I went to the Fair planning to write about the foods Frederick locals wait all year to eat. Instead, I came home understanding a little better why those foods, and all of the traditions surrounding them, mean so much to people.
It was never really just about the food. It’s always been about the memories.
Planning Your Next Visit to The Great Frederick Fair
The Great Frederick Fair is held each September at the Frederick Fairgrounds in Frederick, Maryland. Since dates, admission, parking, entertainment and participating food vendors can change from year to year, check The Great Frederick Fair’s official website for current information before you go.
You can also read my 10 Reasons to Visit The Great Frederick Fair for more ideas on what to see and do while you’re there.
What Does The Great Frederick Fair Bring Back for You?
Maybe it’s a food you only eat once a year, a stop at the animal barns or something your parents did with you that you now do with your own kids or grandkids.
Whatever it is, I’d love to hear about it in the comments.
We don’t just go back every September. We bring a little bit of our past back with us.
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