How did foods on a stick become a Minnesota State Fair tradition?

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There’s deep fried black olives on a stick, “birthday cake cookie dough” on a stick and an ice cream sandwich on a stick called Grandma Doreen’s Dessert Dog.

There’s antipasto on a stick, “loaded breakfast waffle” on a stick and shrimp & pork toast on a stick.

And those are just the ones debuting this year.

There are now so many foods on a stick at the Minnesota State Fair that the fair’s media department doesn’t keep a strict count anymore — noting only that it’s more than 80.

But how did this tradition get its start? That’s what University of Minnesota student Kate Gerber was wondering.

She’s from Libertyville, Ill., and loves the Minnesota State Fair (“it’s the best I’ve been to”).

Gerber wrote to Curious Minnesota, the Strib’s reader-powered reporting project, to ask: What started all the food on a stick at the state fair?

The quick answer: The fair credits the Pronto Pup, which debuted in 1947, as the event’s very first food on a stick.

Cotton candy fans might quibble, as the treat is also sometimes served on a stick — as well as in a bag or cone — and has been available at the fair since before 1920.

But even die-hard corn dog devotees have to admit that the state’s first Pronto Pup stand stands tall in Minnesota State Fair food history.

A “wiener dun in a bun,” a corn dog with a batter made up of several types of flour, Pronto Pup’s history actually began in Oregon. A Portland couple named George and Versa Boyington trademarked the name in 1942 and franchised it.

A Chicago man named Jack Karnis brought the Pronto Pup to the Midwest in 1944.

After a Twin Cities businessman named William Brede tried the treat at Karnis’ restaurant, he suggested bringing the franchise to the Minnesota State Fair, where it debuted in 1947.

“It started catching on fire,” Gregg Karnis, Jack’s son and the Minnesota State Fair franchise’s owner, told the Star Tribune in 2017. “Who in the world would put a stick in a hot dog and dip it in batter and deep-fry it? The thing is, it didn’t matter, because everybody loved the taste.”

The treat dominated the fair’s on-a-stick option for decades. It was joined by the pickle on a stick in 1971 and the cheese on a stick (also battered and fried) in 1974, according to a fair food history by former Star Tribune food critic Rick Nelson. Corn on a stick came in 1985, and pork chop on a stick debuted in 1987.

But it was in the 1990s and 2000s that food on a stick at the fair really took off.

A year later, Belgian waffle on a stick landed at the fair, and pizza on a stick came in 1999, according to a 2000 account by Nelson. As the new millennium began, there were 28 dishes served that way at the fair, and Nelson was tallying the “annual flurry of foods-on-a-stick.”

Nelson speculated that the phenomenon created “a lot of dead trees skewering a lot of snacks, probably enough lumber to empty several Home Depots.”

New that year: a walleye and prime rib combo called “Field and Stream” on a stick, Scotch eggs (hard-boiled, wrapped in sausage and deep fried) on a stick and teriyaki ostrich on a stick.

For a time, the fair released an annual count of the number of skewered options available. It kept climbing, as hits on a stick returned and vendors came up with fresh ideas. By 2007, there were 56, including frozen Key Lime pie on a stick.

This year, the Minnesota Star Tribune’s food reporters and editors sampled all of the new food on a stick offerings – along with dozens of other debuting dishes – on Aug. 21, the fair’s first day.

“I’m not a big fan of corn dogs generally, but I do like that corny batter on the cheese-on-a-stick,” said reporter Sharyn Jackson. “Just a brick of straight up melty yellow American all gooey and warm.”

Assistant food editor Nancy Ngo prefers Tater Tot hot dish on a stick at Ole and Lena’s. “It doesn’t get more Minnesota for me than our state’s quintessential casserole on a stick,” she said.

Reporter Joy Summers loves the giant egg roll at Que Viet Concessions. “It is so meaty, crispy and perfectly seasoned,” she said.

And while food editor Nicole Hvidsten “wouldn’t turn down a corn dog,” she is a fan of a relative newcomer: the 3 Piggy Pals On-A-Stick from Sausage Sister & Me that debuted as an official new food in 2024.

“It’s the perfect meaty-cheesy-spicy combination and is easily shareable, hitting all the marks of a great fair food,” she said.

Read more Curious Minnesota stories:

Tens of millions of dollars flow into State Fair coffers each year. Where does the money go?

How did egg coffee become a Minnesota tradition?