What's it like being a fair food judge at the SWFL Ag Expo? In a word, it's glorious

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01-03-2025

I was expecting a food-fueled parade of elephant ears, corn dogs, doughnut burgers and loaded tots.
Maybe even obscenely large piles of fresh-cut fries, a heaping bag of kettle corn and a handful each of fried Twinkies, Oreos and Snickers. Then, a trough of fresh-squeezed lemonade would be close by to wash it all down.
These images immediately came to mind when I was asked to help judge the Blue Ribbon Bites competition at the 2025 SWFL Ag Expo.
Back when it was called the Southwest Florida and Lee County Fair, I had eaten my way up and down the fairway for years when my kids were young, and my metabolism still gave a damn.
I thought I was a pro who knew what to expect as I eagerly waited for the first of a dozen classic fair favorites to arrive with a paper towel for any excess powdered sugar by my side and a couple of Pepto Chews in my pocket.
Oh, was I wrong.
Turns out this fair food was not the fried and sugar-infused feast of my dreams.
It was more creative, trendy and original than I imagined.
The competition was divided into two divisions — savory and sweet.
All were scored on a scale of 1-10 for presentation/appearance, taste and originality/creativity.
Flanked by co-judges Aaron Greenfield — the SWFL Food Junkie himself — and all-around nice guy, chef and Bubba's Roadhouse owner Jay Johnson, 12 alternating savory and sweet entries were delivered to us in 10-minute increments.
Sounds easy, no?
It is and it isn't. Limit yourself to five bites of each and that's 60 mouthfuls of steaks, pastas, ice creams, baked goods and more.
Who am I kidding? It was glorious.
The savory included three steak dishes — one marinated on a stick from Moreland's Family Concessions and another in 'bomber' form from Steve and Al's Steakout with peppers, onions and cheeses exploding all over a roll and served with a fork. The third was a garlic-butter-grilled Philly from the Brunchy Brunch Food Truck. Despite being the 11th dish to cross our overstuffed and about-to-burst paths, it earned a solid score in my book for its unexpectedly light(ish) crunchy and not-at-all greasy grilled cheese twist.
A lovely Crack Mac & Cheese (with chicken, onion, street corn, black beans, tomato, cilantro, jalapeno, green pepper, parmesan, tajin, ranch and lime) from AMC Food Groups (Holy Macaroni) was high on presentation and creativity as were the Swift Concession's Big Mac pizza (!!!) and a pickle pizza (with hickory smoked bacon!!!!) from Gillette's Pizza & Lemonade.
A hand-cut yeast doughnut topped with lemon buttercream and strawberry lemonade crunch from Fluffy's Hand Cut Donuts was our first sweet treat. It comes with a strawberry lemonade pipette to inject more sugary sweetness. Kids and food writers named Robyn George will love it.
Two soft ice cream dishes followed — a hot-meets-cold apple dumpling topped with cinnamon drizzle, strawberries (or blueberries), ice cream and whipped cream by Mayer's Concessions and Ice Kreme Mill's strawberry shortcake explosion with outstandingly creamy homemade vanilla ice cream. The latter — basically a Good Humor strawberry shortcake dessert bar in a cup form — was one of my favorites. Polar Slush cooled us down and lightened us up between the two with a refreshing blue raspberry and pina colada.
The division finished up with two of the trendiest offerings — a dreamy bubble waffle with sweet cream mousse by Key's Koncessions and Cocoa Berries' Dubai strawberry chocolate cups.
High marks for presentation and creativity gave Cocoa Berries' virtual Dubai dessert cup the sweet victory. It contained layers of Nutella and fresh strawberries, plus Dubai sauce, rings of kataifi and pistachio, more Nutella kataifi, pistachio and a fresh golden strawberry. It was a crunchy and smooth, chocolaty and fresh winner in a cup.
'This means so much to us,' John Rios, general manager of Cocoa Berries, said as he accepted his oversized first-place ribbon.
Brian Gillette's Pickled Pig pizza — fresh ranch, mozzarella, crunchy kosher dill pickle chips and hickory smoked bacon on hand-tossed and homemade pizza dough — won the savory division.
'This is better than any other trophy,' he said. 'This is so cool.'
All competitors will have certificates prominently displayed at their booths, making them easy to spot if you care to give them a try.
The Ag Expo runs daily through Sunday, March 9, at the Lee County Civic Center Complex, 11831 Bayshore Road, in North Fort Myers (swflagexpo.com).
If you can't get by there, many of the same food vendors will head down to the 49th annual Collier Fair & Exposition at the Collier County Fair Grounds, 751 39th Avenue N.E., in Naples from March 20-30 (collierfair.com).
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With nearly 30 food vendors in total, I plan on swinging back by the Ag Expo again over the next few days (in stretchy pants instead of jeans).
While walking around, I spotted a doughnut burger vendor not far from the elephant ears. Turkey legs, smoked meatloaf (wait, what?) and tater tots were nearby too. Oh, and did I mention the fried Twinkies?
Robyn George is a food and dining reporter for The News-Press. Connect at [e-mail]
This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: The 2025 SWFL Ag Expo is underway and we sampled the fair food for you