Craving a Cedar Point French Waffle?

If you find yourself longing for the taste of the old Cedar Point French Waffle, check out Cotterman's County Fair Waffles.

https://cottermanscountyfairwaffles.com

Information on where you can buy them in person is on the website. They will also ship them to you. I recently ordered a batch. Even though they aren't quite the same as a fresh waffle at Cedar Point... and the waffles will not arrive to your home intact... they are pretty damn good. They did not last long in our house.

Also, Tony, if you're reading this, would you please pass along a request to the talented individuals in charge of food at America's Roller Coast? Please bring back the French Waffle!

This is not sponsored. I paid full price for these waffles and I'd do it again!

I remember getting these at Geauga Lake 1.0 in the early 90s and then years later found them at Waldameer. They came in a bag of three for like $1.50 back in the day. So good.

I, also, remember them at Geauga Lake, bought many.

I remember the French Waffles were available in the 50s area of the park at a stand under Big Dipper.

I also remember they had hot belgian waffles with all the toppings at the candy store in the western village side of the park for 99 cents.

Haven't had much luck for a local source of fresh off-season funnel cakes, or cheese on a stick.

Fairs and festivals are your best bet for French waffles, but that’s only on occasion. I guess they don’t call it “fair food” for nothing.
I kind of think it’s best that some things are only available at certain places, events, or times of the year. It’s something to look forward to and keeps people coming back year after year. I mean, ball parks probably wouldn’t sell so many hotdogs if they weren’t so darned good to have at that particular time.
As for Cedar Point, I’m not surprised if they’ve been discontinued- I can tell you they’re kind of a beast to make, believe it or not. Not expensive, really, but they’re a little labor intensive and the operation has to be big in order to get a decent throughput. I can think of two festivals around here where the waffles are well known (and delicious) and the lines are always long. They’re also one of those things that are best eaten hot and really fresh, a cold one is just greasy. Buying a sleeve of waffles to take home seems like a good idea at the time, but is it? And don’t half of them wind up broken? Eh- one can still eat the pieces.
Lastly, you can always make them at home. The rosette irons are available to buy and the batter is simple. But I don’t know of many that do it on a regular basis- after a couple of tries it’s reduced to a novelty and best left to the pros. We’ve all bought stadium mustard to put on our hot dogs at home, but is it the same? Somehow no.
It seems funnel cakes have become the king of the amusement park sweets. They’re easier to make (still take time though), they’re big and shareable and they hold well. And the profit margin is huge- I know fair food very well and I always chuckle at how parks get away with charging for that much for fried batter with powdered sugar or a plop of canned pie filling. If I had a park I’d make a big funnel cake stand near the gate and have the place well stocked and staffed, especially at night. People line up for funnel cakes at the end of the day, either to eat there or take home.

Yes, they are difficult to make and fragile.

At the Stark County (Ohio) Pro-formance automotive swap meet, the waffle maker would sell me all the broken ones/pieces and he was glad to sell them to me, otherwise he'd just be throwing them away. The clear plastic bags that hold 6 for selling I would get full of pieces. Yum !

As today is Thanksgiving, I am craving the massive Turkey leg they used to have at the stand across from the Glass Blowing shop.

I like dark meat turkey, (we always roast extra dark pieces, legs and thighs, for stock and plenty to eat.) but park and fair turkey legs are usually smoked which is a turn off for me. I prefer roasted. I mean, if I wanted ham I’d make a ham.
And Dennis Urban, that is an excellent idea. I’ll have to chum up to the waffle people at our fair and occasionally trade a chicken sammich for a bag of waffle pieces.

I thought I was the only one who loved these things, especially Cotterman’s. I always look at their schedule and hit every fair they are at to pick up a dozen (or 2, or 3!). I think they know me by now, which I’m not sure is a good thing or a bad thing. Of all the waffles I have tried, theirs are definitely the best. I tried some at the Wayne County Fair this year that were really good (can’t remember the name but it was a local donut shop who had a permanent stand), but the ones from Kolar at the Cuyahoga fair were just not good. They tasted like they hadn’t changed the oil in months and the color of them reflected that.

So yeah, Cotterman’s comes highly recommended if anyone wants a good fair-food treat during the off season.

The Circleville Pumpkin show is Ohio’s last festival of the season and they make (you guessed it) pumpkin sugar waffles. I think it’s just the boosters or someone who make em but they line up for them. It’s probably no more than pumpkin purée and pie spices in the batter. They are dark orange and so good.
The Fairfield Co fair in Lancaster is Ohio’s last fair and they have really good waffles, made by Pierce. I guess they should be good, their 107th fair was this past October.
Speaking of Kolar, they have a trailer (or two) at the Ohio State Fair and that’s who I usually visit for my yearly fix. I’m respectful of bees (not afraid…. necessarily…) and lord, the bees around that place are enough to drive one buggy. It’s hard to stand there, they’re really drawn to all that sugar. Almost as bad as the lemon shake ups, but that’s a topic for another day.

The smell of dark meat turkey causes my stomach to churn (as does the smell of bacon, even when I ate it as a kid). I've since learned that this is sort of an autism thing. When I get close to the turkey legs at Magic Kingdom, ugh, it makes me gag.

My county fair (Coshocton County) has had the same french waffle stand since I was a kid, so easily 35+ years, in the same place each fall. This stand would have a long line all night for these waffles. I miss getting them, along with DiRusso's Italian sausage.

I know the post is about waffles, but you should see the line for french fries and lemon shake ups at the Guernsey County Fair.

RCMAC:

The Circleville Pumpkin show is Ohio’s last festival of the season and they make (you guessed it) pumpkin sugar waffles. I think it’s just the boosters or someone who make em but they line up for them.

I happen to know a Pumpkin queen. ;)

My personal favorite is the deep fried pumpkin blossoms.