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Justin Martinez grew up at Fair Park. His father started Fiesta Concessions 40 years ago. Each fall, Justin did homework in the Centennial Building, where the family ran a restaurant. Then, after he finished his work, he’d get to take a trip to the Midway. Not a bad setup; beats an iPad, right?

After graduating from college, Justin came back to Dallas to help his father run and expand their business at the fair. Since his father, Rudy Martinez, passed three years ago, Justin has worked hard to honor his legacy at one of the most intense businesses around: running a food business at the State Fair of Texas. Only Fiesta Concessions has five stands, which include the large spot, Trio on the Green, just outside the Coliseum.

Imagine a business where all your profits for the year depend on 24 days, which are dependent on the weather (either too hot or cold, too much rain or sun), the economy, hyper-seasonal workers and a whole bunch of equipment working well for 12-hour days. Back to back. No breaks. And you have to deconstruct and rebuild your shop every year

The redemption tour

Justin loves it, though. About two weeks before the fair starts, he’s working on his space at Trio on the Green along with several others. Some things are already out of his control, though: Gas is high. Pennies are pinched. I wanted to get straight to it, so I asked him, “What are you most worried about this year?”

“[Last year] was the worst fair for us personally,” Justin says, adding that, in the big scheme of things, they still “did fine,” but it was their slowest year. Lower attendance last year confirmed early social media speculation that prices, from parking to food, were too high for the average consumer.

“I think the State Fair of Texas has done an excellent job of getting ahead of this and making sure that people understand there are things for everybody,” Justin says.

It’ss something we preach here a lot: There are ways to do the fair on a budget. And this year, they made some moves to lower prices across the board. Parking lots managed by the state fair dropped from $30 in 2025 to $25 this year. Additionally, kids get $10 admission every day; adult tickets are $15 Monday – Thursday and only $10 after 5 p.m. Friday through Sunday is $25 and $20, respectively.

There’s also a personal favorite: Thrifty Thursday (after 5 p.m. for the evening discount), when food prices for some big items are reduced.

“We have cheaper options, cheaper prices; they’re [the state fair] focusing on it more,” Justin says.

Justin takes the current economic mood to heart, as well. He adjusted the ingredients of a new drink after realizing the specific lemons he wanted to import would cost too much. “I was like, ‘You know what? I don’t know if this makes sense since we’re on value this year.'”

The biggest challenge of all: staffing

Staffing is one of the greatest challenges for all vendors. Good workers already have jobs. And this gig runs only 24 days, with really long, hot days (12 hours) and an unstoppable crowd.

“But the more challenging thing is not that you have workers that are ready to work; it’s trying to identify the ones that have that experience for this type of work,” he says. “This is different work out here.”

His pregame speech leans into it.

“In fact, I’ll have a staff meeting, and we’ll get all the people out here, and I will tell them upfront, I go, ‘The likelihood is that at the end of the fair, 50% of you will not even be working with us.’ They’ll quit,” he says with an I-can’t-blame-them shrug and a smile.

“They say they’re ready for those lines and all that, but it’s just not for everybody. Some people love it because time goes by fast, they’re busy, but there are people who are like, ‘I can’t do this,'” he says.

The truth about a Big Tex Choice Award

Fiesta Concessions has won five Big Tex Choice Awards, including the fried Thanksgiving dinner, Dominican hot dog and a cotton candy taco.

But things, he says, are different now with the food awards because the food craze has expanded beyond the fairgrounds.

“Back in the day, it was only eight entries, and you didn’t have everybody from the Texas Rangers to the Cowboys to all these other venues coming up with creative foods. We were the only game in town. And that’s where people are like, ‘If you want something crazy, you go to the State Fair Texas.’ Now it seems a little bit more common,” he says.

There are even entire restaurants dedicated to just crazy foods.

Back when they won for fried Thanksgiving dinner, the line was “out of control.” The impact on the bottom line was nice. But now, the winners’ lines are more manageable. There are just so many over-the-top creations; fairgoers have more choices.

He also points out that winning one of those early Big Tex Choice Awards had legs: it wasn’t just a one-year deal. For instance, the fried peanut butter and jelly sandwich, which won in 2005, is a legend in fried fair foods. Fried Jesus, aka Abel Gonzales, told us last year that in a good year, they still sell 20,000 over the three weeks. Aside from being this food editor’s personal favorite, it’s still sought after. “But who won two years ago?” he asks rhetorically. (Well, his Dominican dog did.)

The newer winners just don’t have the legs like in the old days.

“I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, this is going to be around forever.’ Next year comes, they want to know what the newest stuff is,” he says. “Yes, you’ll have some people that are like, ‘Oh my God, I love that.’ But it falls off a cliff for most of our items. I’d say 90%. Fried Thanksgiving dinner — we won in 2015 with that one, I think. That one has actually stuck around, and we took it off the menu last year at Trio and people were like, ‘Why did you guys take that off the menu?’ So we’re bringing it back this year.”

That actually sounds amazing right now. I’ll have to try it: on a Thursday after 5 p.m., because that’s how the locals do the fair.