All’s fair at the fair

Gone are the days when fair food was limited to elephant ears, corn dogs and cotton candy.

You can still find these staples, but these days fairs around the nation are featuring bizarre combinations of anything and everything that can be shoved between two buns, fried, put on a stick, or wrapped in bacon — the weirder, the better.

Here are six crazy fair foods and where you can find them around the U.S.

Fried beer

How do you fry a liquid? Stuff it in pasta for a start. Fried ravioli filled with beer is famous at the State Fair of Texas.

Bickle

A “bickle” is a battered, bacon-wrapped pickle on a stick. It’s popular at the Kansas State Fair.

Pickle juice pops

For some reason, pickles are a big deal in Kansas. Those watching their waistlines at the Kansas State Fair can opt for a pickle juice popsicle instead of a bickle.

Ice cream burger

No need to save room for dessert at the Florida State Fair where people voted the ice cream burger a top favorite 2016. It’s a cheeseburger topped with a crunchy scoop of Mexican-style fried ice cream. Could I get a bickle on that?

Donut Burger

Hold the bun and bring on the donuts. Two donuts, a beef patty, a slice of ham and bourbon glaze make up the Big Clifty Bourbon Donut Burger, one of the top attractions at this year’s Kentucky State Fair. Trains of thought like this may be why Kentucky has one of the highest heart disease death rates in the nation.

Spaghetti and meatballs on a stick

Spaghetti and meatballs on a stick sounds exciting at first because the mind must ponder how slippery noodles would perform this feat. When the answer is: mash them up with meat, glom that into a ball and fry it it, it becomes considerably less exciting, unless you live in Minnesota.

— Jennifer K. Bauer and Michelle Schmidt