The Palmerton Community Festival offers plenty of food choices.

"One of the longest stands running yet is the West End Fire Co. pizza stand," said Susan Arner, president and chairwoman of the festival.She also assured the return of the wrestling club's roast beef sandwiches, Palmerton Hospital Ladies' Auxiliary's strawberry shortcakes and Palmerton Lions' waffles and ice cream, just to name a few.Those who are interested in spicing things up a bit should swing by new festival vendors such as the West End Saloon and Manny's Food Truck. The Saloon will be featuring buffalo wings and shrimp, and Manny's will have rice balls, wraps and sandwiches.Caribbean Noodles will be serving up a variety of tasty options, including fresh yakisoba noodles with vegetables and teriyaki chicken, a choice of Tropical Paradise and Caribbean Jerk sauces, and much more. Make sure to try out the Jamaican Jerk chicken on a stick, too.This year marks the festival's 27th anniversary of food and entertainment with a community twist, though it has a more extensive past."The festival began in 1989 as the Community Festival, however prior to that it was the Palmerton Hospital Festival. That event was in place for 25 years as a means to raise funds for the Palmerton Hospital. During its tenure as the Hospital Festival many community groups and volunteers came out and helped run the various stands," Arner said."After 25 years as the Hospital Festival the folks who were then in charge turned it over to the community to raise funds for the participating groups' causes."The Palmerton VFW will be returning as well, offering some much beloved classics of the region."We're doing the hoagies and homemade pirogies again this year," VFW bartender and booth volunteer Bonnie Serfass said.Make sure you cap off your festival circuit with a stop at the Living Hope Lighthouse Church, stand,where you can get a frosty dessert to combat the heat."We're doing hand-dipped ice cream, frozen bananas, that sort of thing, all from the Ice Cream Lab," the Rev. Christopher Bronico said.The church is offering free water from 6 to 7 p.m. on each day of the festival, along with balloons for kids, and a box for prayer requests.While there are plenty of notable booths that always get heavy foot traffic, finding a personal favorite - especially this year - could be harder than you think."I have no idea," Arner said in regard to absolute festival favorites. "Each person's opinion will vary depending on their taste buds. Some like the waffles and ice cream, while others enjoy the haluski and filling."Elephant ears are another favorite.Glenn Hinton runs the local stand, which uses sweet dough that is fried and covered with cinnamon and sugar. Hinton's sweet dough recipe has been passed down for generations from family members.The stand is only at four fairs and festivals over the summer, the West End Fair, Carbon County Fair, Palmerton Community Festival and the Covered Bridge Festival at Knoebels in October.The family is going on its 35th year in business with the fourth generation of employees. The madness begins each summer in early June with the preparation of the dough.Over 3,500 pounds of flour is used to make the delicious sweet dough. The recipe has been perfected over the years and is now used by Hinton to make the dough from scratch. He has altered the dough recipe to be optimal for freezing and thawing. It takes five people four hours to make dough for a thousand 'ears.'The dough rises better and does not crack when it is first frozen then fried.The term 'elephant ears' comes from the unique shape the dough takes when it puffs up."We've been at the Palmerton Festival probably 10-15 years already. It is the second busiest, even next to the West End Fair," Hinton said.Amanda Treible contributed to this report.