Fair favorite has recipe for success

PALMER — There are a few things that seem synonymous with state fairs — carnival games, corn dogs, Ferris wheels and funnel cakes.

Believe or not, there was a time at the Alaska State Fair when there wasn’t a funnel cake to be found. But that changed more than two decades ago when Aunt Linda’s Funnel Cakes opened shop, offering its powdered sugar-topped, deep fried and golden brown round of dessert goodness.

Now, 25 years later, “Aunt Linda” Ressler continues to provide Alaska fair-goers with that state fair staple.

“It’s amazing that it’s been 25 years,” Ressler said Wednesday afternoon, less than 24 hours before the start of the 2010 Alaska State Fair. “It was many years before it took off. When we started, nobody knew what they were.”

She doesn’t want to brag. But Ressler’s proud to say that she and her husband, Dick, introduced the Alaska State Fair to the product native to their home state of Pennsylvania.

“When we lived back East, we’d sell them at garage sales,” Ressler said. “(The funnel cakes) would out-sell everything at the garage sale.”

After the Ressler family moved to Alaska, Linda and Dick made funnel cakes for a close family friend.

“He said you need to get these in the fair,” Ressler said.

The Resslers applied for a booth in 1985, and their application was accepted in 1986.

Ressler said business was slow at first, as Alaskans warmed up to the idea of the deep fried cakes made with unleavened batter. But after a few seasons, folks at the Alaska State Fair began to learn what regulars at carnivals and fairs on the East Coast had known for years.

“The first three years we lost money; nobody knew what they were,” Ressler said. “The fourth and fifth year, it started to get to be known.”

During the first seasons, the Resslers would give away free samples. Customers eventually came back for more.

“From there, it took off I guess,” Ressler said.

It’s a simple operation that’s grown tremendously in its 25 years. The traditional funnel cake is just as it sounds. The batter, which contains only about a half-dozen basic ingredients, is poured through a funnel into a pan of hot oil. The cake takes a circular shape with a criss-cross pattern and is cooked until golden brown. After the cake is drained, a healthy dose of powdered sugar is sprinkled onto the finished product.

And that’s basically how Aunt Linda’s has been serving the funnel cakes for a quarter-century.

“We’ve never changed the recipe,” Ressler said. “In 25 years, it’s the exact same ingredients.”

The operation has changed, grown to fulfill the needs of funnel cake hungry Alaskans.

Twenty-five years ago, Ressler and her husband started with a regular kitchen stove and four frying pans tucked inside a small fair booth. Now, Aunt Linda’s has graduated to a double-wide booth complete with two large deep fryers.

Aunt Linda’s was once a true mom and pop business, with just the Resslers and two close friends cooking and serving the cakes. But now, Aunt Linda has 10 employees under her wing.

“We need four people to work at all times,” Ressler said.

At any given time during the fair, there is one person pouring the cakes into the oil, another flipping the frying cakes, another applying the powdered sugar and another working the cash register. That’s just for one of the booth’s two windows.

Ressler said Aunt Linda’s had to expand to a pair of windows, simply because the lines started to get too long.

“People don’t want to stand in line,” she said.

The operation’s biggest innovation came about 16 years ago when her husband created a pressurized system to pour the funnel cake batter into the pan.

“We couldn’t make them fast enough,” Ressler said of the old method, pouring each individual cake by hand. “We never make them ahead of time. We always make them fresh.”

As the cakes became more popular, Ressler said pouring the cakes from the heavy containers of batter became pretty difficult.

“Day five, you couldn’t lift your arms,” Ressler said.

Aunt Linda’s Funnel Cakes are only available twice each summer. The Resslers have their booth at the Alaska State Fair, and Dick Ressler makes the trip north each summer for the Tanana Valley State Fair in Fairbanks. Through the years, they tossed around the idea of expanding to other events. They were at a festival in Anchorage years ago and hit the Willow Winter Carnival one year. But they prefer to stick to the state fairs.

A lot of preparation goes into the operation each year. Ressler said Dick spends 12-hour days at the fairgrounds during the week leading up to the fair. But it’s worth it in the long run.

Spending 25 years at the fair, 23 at the same place — spot No. 42 on the Red Trail Spur — Ressler sees her regulars every year. And that’s part of what keeps her ready to open Aunt Linda’s year after year.

“So many people tell me that’s the only reason they come to the fair,” Ressler said. “That makes me feel really good.”

Aunt Linda’s cakes are available for $5 with powdered sugar or $6 with fruit topping. For more, see Aunt Linda’s Funnel Cakes on Facebook.

Contact Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.