Oklahoma State Fair celebrates "Something-on-a-Stick" day

Today is one of the greatest holidays of all. No, it's not Christmas, Thanksgiving, Elliot's birthday, or even National Plum Pudding Day. It's Something-on-a-Stick day! And it is being duly celebrated at the Oklahoma State Fair.

In its blog story, "Ode to the Stick," the Oklahoma State Fair explains:

It is a commonly known fact that food tastes better when it is served on a stick (deep-frying it and dipping it in chocolate doesn’t hurt either). Serious eats like steak, pork chops, and chicken get to become fun and portable when served on a stick. Skewered food is easier to dip into sauces, dips, and marinades. And, well, food on a stick just makes people happy. Come on, can you keep a straight face when you are eating a Giant Foot Long Chocolate-Covered Rice Krispies Treat On-A-Stick? We didn’t think so.  

From Shish Kabobs to Pizza On-A-Stick to Corn Dogs (regular, jumbo, jalapeno, and chocolate-covered) to Sausage On-A-Stick, the Oklahoma State Fair has all the classic foods on sticks you could ever want.

I can't say that I've ever eaten a Giant Foot Long Chocolate-Covered Rice Krispies Treat On-A-Stick, but I have to acknowledge that the thought of that indeed makes me smile. And some of the other treats described on the blog - Bacon-Wrapped Chicken On-A-Stick, Deep-Fried Creole Sausage On-A-Stick, Battered & Fried Jalapeno Pepper On-A-Stick, and Frosted Flakes Chicken On-A-Stick - are equally intriguing.

From the State Fair's Facebook page, we learn one very important food-on-a-stick fact:

Question: How many miles of Fair foods on-a-stick were consumed during the 2011 Oklahoma State Fair? 

Answer: Thirty-Two miles of skewered Fair food was consumed during the 2011 Oklahoma State Fair. To put that in perspective, that is the approximate distance from OKC to Guthrie. [Map]

That's a lot of food-on-a-stick! If your average corn dog is eight inches long, that would equal something in the neighborhood of 250,000 corn dogs.

And now, as the lunch hour approaches, allow me to share a few tantalizing photos of various foods that can be eaten on a stick. I'm not sure what all of these things are, nor am I sure that I could be tempted to try all of them, but there certainly are lots of options. Now I'm off in search of a good corn dog!