COLUMBIA, S.C. — Aunt Martha's has been cooking up South Carolina State Fair favorites for 74 years.
"I’ve been working the South Carolina State Fair since 1992, my family’s been here since 1948," operator Earl Scheler said. "Aunt Martha's an experience. You have to go to the fairgrounds and eat at Aunt Martha's. It's just an experience. They love it!"
Scheler’s father-in-law started the fair food stand, which serves up everything from footlong corn dogs to polish sausages and Philly cheesesteaks.
"Oh yeah, we're serving third, fourth generations now where they just come right up to the window," Scheler said.
That's exactly what fairgoer Jennifer Manual did. She’s been coming to the fair ever since she was little, and now she’s passing on that tradition. She brought along her daughter and granddaughter - and of course, they had to make a stop for her favorite lunch.
"Every time I come I get Aunt Martha's 'cuz I get the big, big corndogs, and then I have to take my 16-year-old boy home an Italian sausage to go," Manual said. "We come here mainly for the food. We look at the people, we see the buildings and we get the food!"
Old-timers and newcomers alike are enjoying the flavors this year. Brittany Morant came to the fair for the first time and shared her reaction to the first bite of her polish sausage.
"It’s pretty good," she said. "It’s well-seasoned. I like it! I would come back again."
For Scheler, knowing he’s putting smiles on people’s faces year after year keeps him coming back to the fair.
"It actually makes me feel special," Scheler said smiling. "I mean, everybody around here, they love our product, they love our name, and they just love the fact that we’ve been here so long. We’ve watched the whole entire fairgrounds grow to what it is today."