Within the early Nineteen Eighties, a rustic dancing couple from Dallas had an encounter with funnel cake that might alter their lives. John and Wanda “Fernie” Locke Winter had been employed to host every week of occasions at Kirkwood Lodge, a square-dancing spot in Osage Seaside, Missouri. John was a widely known “caller” who learn out steps to choreographed dances as Fernie demonstrated. They went twice yearly, however this time, one thing completely different caught their consideration.
“Mom was so excited when she got here again, telling us about—‘I feel I discovered one thing we have to carry to the truthful,’ ” remembers the couple’s youngest daughter, Johnna McKee. And that one thing was funnel cake.
The Winters had began working within the Embarcadero Constructing through the State Honest of Texas across the mid-Nineteen Sixties. They have been introduced in as concessionaires by a fellow dancer as a approach to earn further money. When the Winters took over the nook area within the constructing, known as the Dock, a number of years later, they began by promoting corned beef and roast beef sandwiches and later added the primary nachos to be bought on the truthful, based on the household.
After John and Fernie returned from Missouri within the early eighties, a tide turned for the household enterprise. Their sales space began promoting the deep-fried cake made with Golden Dipt combine, peanut oil, and powdered sugar for $1.50 every. The Winters—and the State Honest of Texas—would by no means be the identical.
“We have been sort of shocked,” remembers Christi Erpillo, the third daughter out of 4. “We didn’t realize it was going to be so iconic. We simply thought we had a brand new thought. We didn’t realize it was going to be one of many staples, just like the Fletchers.”
Despite the fact that the truthful is the epicenter of fried-food innovation in Texas, funnel muffins have remained the best-seller, says Melanie Linnear, the State Honest of Texas’s senior vp of concessions. “It simply caught on,” she says, explaining that when touring different state and county festivals, desserts like elephant ears and cinnamon sugar–dusted fried dough are extra widespread.
Though Fernie’s was the primary to promote funnel muffins on the truthful, right now there are round ten different distributors promoting the treats as nicely. However when requested, Linnear sends fairgoers to Fernie’s. It’s “the epitome of an ideal funnel cake,” she says. Erpillo and McKee are perfectionists, and you may style the distinction, based on Linnear. “They put extra love and devotion into it than different individuals do,” she says.
Erpillo began serving to her dad and mom on the Dock—one of many truthful’s few air-conditioned, sit-down eating places—when she was seventeen years previous. Different square-dancing family and friends members helped out at first. “It was all arms on deck,” she says.
With the assistance of her household, Fernie ultimately took up the scepter because the Funnel Cake Queen. Fernie and John cherished the eye and the regular stream of enterprise they obtained from Fernie’s Funnel Truffles. In keeping with McKee, “they have been very socially favored” and recognized for throwing the perfect after-parties. Fernie wore blazers and a continuing smile, and “Mild John” referred to most everybody as “honey, darlin’, child, sweetheart . . . That’s how he was,” McKee says.
At present McKee and Erpillo run the 5 Fernie’s stands and the model. Erpillo is the artistic thoughts that’s led Fernie’s to eighteen finalist appearances within the Massive Tex Alternative Awards—greater than every other vendor. She retains a binder of concepts she’s gleaned from watching cooking reveals, studying magazines, surveilling new gadgets on the grocery retailer, and scrolling social media. Everybody within the household is aware of to name “Aunt Christi” if they’ve an thought. The fried Texas sheet cake and deep-fried peaches and cream are the menu gadgets most individuals request to return, however when requested what her private favourite is, Erpillo says, “No matter one we’re promoting that yr.”
If Erpillo is the artistic thoughts, McKee is the businesswoman who can rattle off statistics comparable to how scoring a Finest Style win within the Massive Tex Alternative Awards can improve a stand’s income by as much as 45 % for the yr. Erpillo insisted the awards be separated into candy and savory classes, and it’s been that approach since 2017. “I’m my mom’s daughter,” Erpillo says.
Whereas working a good stand is generally enjoyable, it’s hectic when tragedy strikes. Through the 1989 truthful, John Winter died. Different concessionaires labored the funnel cake stand the subsequent day so the household may attend his funeral. Fernie returned to work on the truthful day by day afterward that yr, ready till the final day was finished to present herself over to grief.
“Mom was the strongest girl alive,” McKee says.
However Fernie was insistent that John’s loss of life not decide how Fernie’s Funnel Truffles can be remembered. Fernie ran the joint till 2020 and died a yr later, at age 95. Now her memorial desk and the chair from which she oversaw manufacturing (though she was unafraid to take her walker behind the frying station if obligatory) sit empty. “I nonetheless can’t sit at that desk,” says Erpillo, and McKee affirms: “None of us have.”
Erpillo and McKee proceed the household legacy. The menu on the Dock modifications barely every year to incorporate Erpillo’s latest stab at a Massive Tex Alternative Award. This yr the Fernie’s deep-fried cherry pie, a top-ten finalist, will likely be accessible, and the newly launched Fernie’s Funnel Cake Cream, a wine-based cocktail, will likely be bought in cookie-glass photographs and in an espresso martini. However most issues stay as they have been in Fernie’s day.
“Mom and Daddy began it. That was the primary chapter,” Erpillo says. “Now we’re the second chapter, and we’re attempting to set the third chapter up for achievement.”
