I passed the booth with a big sign advertising a “walking taco” a few times before I just had to see what it was.

It seems walking tacos are a food that’s familiar to most frequent fairgoers but virtually unheard of to the rest of us.

There are a few variations, but the concept is simple. Open up a snack size bag of chips, and add the taco fixings — meat, lettuce, cheese, salsa, sour cream, etc. — right into the bag. Then you eat the taco with a fork straight out of the bag.

The name, I’m guessing, comes from the fact you can do just that as you walk around the fair.

The booth where I got my walking taco made them with cheese Doritos. They also offered a similar concept with Fritos — called a Frito pie. Later in the week I spied at least one other booth offering the walking taco, this time made with Fritos.

The taco was great. I was never much a fan of eating tacos in shells. In fact, my mother was way before her time on this idea.

I remember back about 20 years ago, before it became the norm to eat tacos out of soft shellls, my mother (who despised any kind of mess) insisted in crushing up our hard taco shells and having us eat our “taco salad” with a fork. This idea eventually evolved to using tortilla chips.

The cheesy Doritos added a nice flavor twist.

Maybe next year I’ll try the Frito pie!

Lorain County Sheriff Phil Stammitti reset his own Lorain County Fair record for the grand champion single fryer rabbit.

Stammitti paid $800 for Jacqueline Squires of Vermilion’s grand champion rabbit. The previous record price was $725, which Stammitti paid in 2004 for Greg Showalter’s rabbit.

Here are the rest of the results for champion animals:

Meat chickens, pen of two

Champion: Kalt Manufacturing paid $500 for the chickens entered by Erica Horoschak of Vermilion, a member of Brighton Buckeyes 4-H club. (Record is $1,350, which former Lorain County Commissioner David Moore paid in 2001 for Carly Conrad’s chickens.)

Reserve champion: CenturyTel paid $210 for the chickens entered by Noah Metzger of Amherst, a member of Brownhelm Perfection & B.B. 4-H club.

Market lamb

Supreme champion: Kalt Manufacturing paid $3.60 per pound ($511.20) for the lamb entered by Brendon Jasko of Sheffield Lake. (Record is $16 per pound, which Pride of the Andes Alpacas from Litchfield paid in 2001 for Lee Schoh’s lamb.)

Supreme reserve champion: Katelyn Pittman of Lorain, a member of Brighton Buckeyes 4-H club, got $8 per pound ($1,048) for her lamb. Winning bidders were Barbara & U.S. Stone, HealthSource of Vermilion, Kathe Pittman, Mackay Engineering & Surveying Co., Nick Abraham Auto Mall and Patricia Echko.

Market hog

Grand champion: A&H Metals Inc. and auctioneer Bill Axford paid $4.80 per pound ($1,123.20) for the hog entered by Cody Prewitt of Grafton, a member of LaGrange Sod Busters 4-H club. (Record is $11.25 per pound, which auctioneer Bill Axford, Bill Axford Jr. and A&H Metals paid in 2006 for Emily Hyer’s hog.)

Reserve champion: T.L. Keller Meats paid $4 per pound ($1,100) for the hog entered by Michael Whitney of Wellington, a member of Pittsfield Lost & Found 4-H club.

Meat rabbits, pen of three

Grand champion: ABC Equipment Rental and Sales paid $300 for the rabbits entered by Sarah Brennan of Amherst, a member of Leading Edge 4-H club. (Record is $525, which Chris Rothgery for Common Pleas Judge paid in 2004 for James Moore’s rabbits.)

Reserve champion: Kalt Manufacturing paid $250 for the rabbits entered by William Waite of Wellington, a member of Wellington Happy Farmers 4-H club.

Meat rabbit, single fryer

Grand champion: Sheriff Phil Stammitti paid $800 for the rabbit entered by Jacqueline Squires of Vermilion, a member of Brownhelm Perfection & B.B. 4-H club. (New record. Previous record was Stammitti’s as well. He paid $725 in 2004 for the rabbit entered by Greg Showalter.)

Reserve champion: Kalt Manufacturing paid $175 for the rabbit entered by Rose Stankiewicz of Avon, a member of Tri-City Critters 4-H club.

Market goat

Champion, non-dairy: Butlers Evergreens paid $670 for the goat entered by Jesse Jones of Oberlin, a member of Camden Kids 4-H club. (Record is $1,000, which CenturyTel and John and Donna Penton paid in 2005 for the goat entered by Hanna Reid.)

Reserve champion, non-dairy: Paul’s Appliance Repair paid $225 for the goat entered by Justin Bean of Oberlin, a member of Tri-City Critters 4-H club.

Champion, dairy: CenturyTel paid $300 for the goat entered by Jason Young of Oberlin, a member of Goats Galore 4-H club.

Reserve champion, dairy: Polen Implement paid $165 for the goat entered by Brenden Cooper of Oberlin, a member of Camden Kids 4-H club.

Market beef, lottery steer

Grand champion: Eloise Mohrman paid $3 per pound ($4,062) for the steer entered by Ryan Bradley of Wellington, a member of the Lorain County Steer Club. (Record is $10 per pound, which the Wellington Inn paid in 1984 for Jodi Plott’s steer.)

Reserve champion: Oberlin Wal-Mart paid $2.05 per pound ($2,695.75) for the steer entered by Kirsten Long of Wellington, a member of the Lorain County Steer Club.

Market beef, modern beef

Grand champion: Turk Brothers Custom Meats paid $1.70 per pound ($2,238.90) for the steer entered by Vincent Myers of Wellington, a member of the Lorain County Steer Club. (Record is $5.50 per pound, which Rini-Rego-Riser Foods from Bedford Heights paid in 1991 for Heather Polen’s steer.)

Reserve champion: Dr. Curtis D. Ferriman, O.D., paid $1.25 per pound ($1,770) for the steer entered by Tyler Rook of Sullivan, a member of Huntington Highlighters 4-H club.

Market beef, dairy finished steer

Grand champion: Laura Smirz and Lu Phillips paid $1.25 per pound ($1,923.75) for the steer entered by Katherine Gilbert of Sullivan, a member of Wellington Happy Farmers 4-H club. (Record is $3.50 per pound, which Sterk’s Catering of Amherst paid in 1995 for Megan Tansey’s steer.)

Reserve champion: Krystowski Tractor Sales paid $1.20 per pound ($1,677.60) for the steer entered by Amy Sayler of Wakeman, a member of Firelands FFA.

Market beef, dairy beef cross

Grand champion: Oberlin Wal-Mart paid $2.20 per pound ($2,998.60) for the steer entered by Lamar Horton of Grafton, a member of Lorain County Hoof & Hide Club. (Record is $2.60 per pound, which Dr. Laura Pall, DDS, of Wellington, paid in 1999 for Dawn Brainard’s steer.)

Reserve champion: Thomas J. and Jennifer Janus paid $1.40 per pound ($1,702.40) for the steer entered by Kyle Piscione of LaGrange, a member of Lorain County Hoof & Hide Club.

Turkey

Grand champion: Absolute Machine Tools Inc. paid $1,200 for the turkey entered by Hunter Matus of Wakeman, a member of Pitchfork Pals 4-H club. (Record is $1,750, which Ridgewood Horse Transportation paid in 2006 for Madeline Myers’ turkey.)

Reserve champion: Kalt Manufacturing paid $400 for the turkey entered by Rebecca Lahane of Columbia Station, a member of Sunset Riders 4-H club.

Visit the Lorain County Fair Web site, www.loraincountyfair.com, starting today to give your feedback on the 2009 Lorain County Fair.

For the first time, the fair is conducting an online survey for fairgoers.

“We’re looking for feedback to improve fairs in the future,” said Charisse Nikel, office manager for the Lorain County Fair. “We want to give people what they want and make it the best fair possible.”

The survey takes about five minutes to complete.

Questions include which of the grandstand and free entertainment fairgoers attended, whether they entered animals or other items in the fair, ratings of their interaction with fair office staff and fair directors and how they feel about the fair Web site.

Many of the questions ask for a response of one to five stars. Most also have a form to submit comments.

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!