State Fair Food Vendors Donate to Fair Park Community – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

More than 2.2 million people attended this year’s State Fair of Texas, and when construction teams collapsed the displays at the fairgrounds, fair food vendors lined up to donate their surplus produce.

“This is my happiest day at the State Fair of Texas,” said Christi Erpillo of Fernie’s Funnel Cakes.

Erpillo said Fernie’s Funnel Cakes started donating its extra fair food 15 years ago. Since then, efforts have grown to include more providers in the so-called State Fair Cares Food Drive.

“We created an environment for them to drop in to clean up the morning after Mass,” said Karissa Condoianis, senior vice president of public relations for the State Fair of Texas. “We let organizations pass right after they drop it in, so it’s fresh.”

This year, seven community organizations in the Fair Park neighborhood benefited. Many of them have had increased needs since the beginning of the pandemic.

“We don’t just feed the homeless,” said Rev. Andra Johnson of Cornerstone Baptist Church in Dallas. “We also feed families and various individuals who have lost incomes, lost jobs during this period.”

Items donated included pasta and marinara sauce, sugar, bread, and produce.

“We feed people 24 days a year for profit, for money as a business, but now we do it from the goodness of our hearts and just try to help them,” said Erpillo. “And we’re seeing tangible results of what we can do when we all come together to help the people of Dallas.”

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