Carbon County Fair offers variety of food
The food vendors were busy this week at the Carbon County Fair.
The lines have been steady at the food stands.
Michael Kopinetz of Pottsville, who runs the pizza stand, said, “Business has been good and the heat really hasn’t slowed down business.”
Area Lions Clubs are offering hot dogs, hamburgers, barbecue, halushki, chicken pot pie, filling and gravy, and other favorites.
Add tacos, homemade potato chips, French fries, pierogies and potato pancakes to the list of choices.
Sweets are in no short supply. The ice cream stands had a good business. Members of the Lions are dishing up strawberry shortcake and hard dipped ice cream in a variety of flavors.
Of course the soft ice cream stands had a good business, too.
There is always a line at the Elephant Ears stand. Owner Glenn Hinton was offering frozen hot chocolate and getting ready for fall with the pumpkin cream cheese topping for the sweet fried dough.
And if you have never tasted Chocolate Moonshine Fudge you have never had real fudge, according to Jeff and Anne Wateska.
When asked what makes chocolate moonshine fudge one of the best sellers at fairs and events, Jeff Wateska replied it is because they make the moonshine fudge like your great-grandparents used to make it, with fresh cream and butter. They said they only use Belgian chocolate.
“There’s very few people that make it like we still do because it’s very time intensive. We cook the fudge in large copper kettles and let it cool slowly in the kettle so it doesn’t get sugar crystals and then it has to sit for 18 hours before it can be cut and put in the boxes,” he said.
When the Wateskas go to fairs and events, they will have 50 to 60 flavors of fudge for customers that return every year to the Chocolate Moonshine Fudge stand for fudge that reminds them of their youth.
“That’s the memories that we like to see because it’s old-fashioned and it kind of sounds silly, but you know it’s a good memory for so many people and it puts a smile on their face,” he said.
They started with a fundraiser for their daughter’s rowing crew and it’s been busy ever since.
The Wateskas now have their own little company, Wow LLC, and still use the original recipe for the fudge and cook it in large copper kettles.
“There are other people that represent Chocolate Moonshine Fudge, but again, we were there from the very beginning, so we’re different. And that is what makes us really unique,” Wateskas said.
They live in Grove City, Mercer County, and travel 150 shows all over the country, and they treasure the new people and the old friends who return to the Carbon County Fair and other places to just taste a little bit of their childhood.