Just about everyone I talked to at the fair told me I couldn’t leave without taking a dozen of the famous Wellington band doughnuts home with me.

I decided I had to see what all the fuss was about.

“Your doughnuts are legendary,” I greeted band director Toni Novotny when she emerged from the back of the doughnut-making operation covered in powdered sugar.

She didn’t bat an eye. “Yes, they are,” she said with a smile.

It seems the Wellington band doughnuts, like the Midway Oh-Boy burgers, are just one of those must-haves when people stop at the fair.

Wellington band doughnuts come by the dozen. But by the time I took this picture, their numbers had dwindled. (Photo by Rona Proudfoot, The Chronicle-Telegram.)

In a year that saw lower attendance and lots of vendors complaining about slow business, the band doughnut booth didn’t seem to be feeling the pinch.

Novotny said it’s been “a little busier” than other years and noted that the Sunday before the fair’s official opening, “setup day,” saw record sales for them.

“The weather’s cooperated for us,” she said. “But it really doesn’t matter if it’s hot or raining. At the end of the night, people come over and they buy their dougnuts to take home with them.”

So I did the same. But I have to admit I was a little skeptical. I mean, a doughnut’s a doughnut, right?

Several hours later (after I’d worked into the early morning hours posting to this blog), I was more than ready for a midnight snack.

I was a little disappointed to see some of the icing was cracking and had fallen off some of the doughnuts. I scooped up what I could — I didn’t want a tasteless doughnut — and took my first bite.

What followed was one of those heavens opening up/epiphany-type moments. That doughnut was about the best darn thing I think I’ve ever tasted in my life! Forget the icing. The cake part of the doughnut was so, so sweet and flavorful.

I went to bed, but sleep-walked down for one more doughnut, before shoving what remained of the dozen into the freezer.

These doughnuts are a deadly weapon in the hands of a single girl who lives alone!

Did I mention this week is the start of The Chronicle’s “Biggest Loser” competition? I think these doughnuts were sent to sabotage me!

Well, it’s been a while since I posted on the fair food I’d been checking out, but, trust me, that doesn’t mean I haven’t been eating.

A couple days ago some perfectly innocent — and I’m sure perfectly delicious — fried green tomatoes put me over the edge. I just happened to be eating these when I hit my fried food breaking point. They tasted pretty good, but I had to choke them down.

So I returned to the fair the next day determined — I was on the hunt for non-fried fair food.

I took a couple suggestions and wandered the midway for a while.

I finally stumbled upon Lobo’s Pasta. I can’t say that I’ve ever thought of pasta as a festival food. In fact, you say “Italian” and “fair” to me, and I’m going to think pizza or stromboli. (And if you’ve been reading, my fair pizza was less than impressive.)

But Lobo’s smelled good, and it wasn’t fried. The stand had gnocchi (A HUGE favorite of mine), cavatelli (OK, but I always sort of thought of it as wannabe gnocchi) and ravioli. I was on the go, though, and didn’t feel like sitting and eating with utensils, so I opted for a meatball sandwich.

The meatball sandwich was cheap by fair standards ($4) and HUGE. The bun was probably six or seven inches long, and once I thought they’d filled it, they kept going with the meatballs.

So much for my idea of eating on the go. I couldn’t even wrap my mouth around this sandwich!

So I returned to my booth, and ate it slowly, trying (not so successfully) to not make a mess (and a fool) of myself.

Five-star Italian food it probably isn’t. And I wouldn’t have minded it being a little warmer (had I been home, I’d have nuked it). But for fair food … let’s just say this is the first thing I’ve ate all week that made me forget I was eating at the fair!

A cooler and overcast Thursday didn’t keep the crowds away from the Lorain County Fair.

4-Hers flocked to Junior Fair Night, complete with an awards ceremony and parade. And spectators packed the grandstand for a horse pull competition.

Fairgoers filled the midway, snacking on fair food and racing from ride to ride.

See if you spot yourself or someone you know in this video:

A first-time turkey caller and a veteran rooster crower took home top honors today at the Lorain County Fair.

Emily Pohorence, 13, of Huron, also won first place for rooster calling in 2007 but didn’t place last year. She said she spent fair week so far “practicing in the chicken barn.” Asked how the chickens reacted, “they did it back,” she said.

Emily, who goes to school at Firelands and is a member of Bits and Spurs 4-H club, rose to the top of the field of 16 to take home the big trophy and blue ribbon.

Emily Pohorence

Adam Cordy

Adam Cordy, 13, of LaGrange, said he’d never even seen the turkey call competition but read about it and decided to give it a try.

“I was just playing around, making noise, and I figured it out,” he said.

It must have worked. He drew laughs from the audience during the contest’s first round when a turkey responded to his call.

He said he hunts turkey and deer with his uncle, but hasn’t had a chance to try out his turkey call while hunting.

“But it works great on the turkeys around the farm,” his dad said.

Annalee Sekulic, 12, of Wakeman, and her goose, Ricky, scurried to first-place honors in the fowl races that followed the turkey calling and rooster crowing contests.

Participants encouraged their ducks, geese and turkeys through an obstacle course: in and out of a slalom, through a tunnel, up and down a ramp and under a board.

It was all in fun, so there were plenty of liberties taken. One boy had to chase his duck halfway down the barn. And there was plenty of pushing and prodding.

Annalee said she got Ricky two months ago when he was a day old — “that’s when they follow you everywhere,” she said — and has been practicing with him everytime she went out to feed the horses.

Contact Rona Proudfoot at rproudfoot@chroniclet.com, (440) 371-0792 or stop by to see her at the fair. She’s based at the WEOL booth and will be wandering the fairgrounds in a bright gold Chroniclet.com T-shirt.

Annalee Sekulic