Aug 27, 2014

The King Has Abdicated


In 1958 my father had a food stand at the fair. It took him about an hour to realize you can not sell hot dogs in the King's back yard; Yocco, the hot dog king. When Yocco's claimed last year they were not at the fair because their canvas ripped, I was skeptical. This year it's official, they have abdicated their spot. Tonight the fair was jammed. In Ag Hall the granges still compete in vegetable canning. A wiseguy still incites you to dunk him. The world's smallest horse hasn't grown. Maybe Yocco's is gone, but the fair is still much more like 1958 than any other aspect of Allentown.

reprinted annually since 2007

2 comments:

  1. I ate my first Yocco's chili dog today, and I have to say I have no idea what people are going on about. It's a shriveled lukewarm itty-bitty sausage with some kind of stuff on it that leaves a grease track on the wax paper. First taste impressions: salt. Some kind of chili powder. Grease. The cheese that came on top of the dog evaporated completely.

    If this is what people consider "The King" of hotdogs...then I saw Elvis at the airport.

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  2. @12:38, it may be an acquired taste melted into the dna by three generations of yocco. however, natives never order with cheese.

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