New food at the fair

There's taco meat. And there's Doritos.

Who would have thought to combine the two?

Someone did. And now the Havre Wrestling Club will offer the cuisine, "a taco in a bag," at the Great Northern Fair next month.

The idea came to the club after eating at concession stands while on the road.

"It's something we see all the time when we go to different meets around the state," Bruce Flathers, president of the Havre Wrestling Club, said about the origin of the recipe. "It seems to be a big seller."

The taco in a bag is a grab bag-sized Doritos or Fritos bag filled with taco meat, lettuce and cheese. Customers will also have the option of adding salsa.

A similar item planned to be sold by the Wrestling Club is a bag of Fritos with chili mixed in rather than taco ingredients. This dish, known as a "Frito pie" in other parts of the country, remains unnamed by the Havre club.

Flathers hopes that the booth will be a successful replacement for the Duck Run, a wrestling club fund-raiser that has been an annual feature at Havre Festival Days for many years. The Duck Run has started to lose its appeal, and fund-raising ability, Flathers said.

"It was a good fund-raiser for a while, but it's a lot of work for a little bit of money," he said.

Considering the zeal Hi-Line residents hold for fair food, Flathers has big hopes for the booth.

He hopes to raise "enough (money) to keep the wrestling club open."

"It takes a lot of money to keep that place going," he said.

The Wrestling Club practices at Mat Corner on Second Street.

The booth is being built to be portable. The club hopes its fairtime home will be next to the Sons of Norway Vikings booth, adjacent to the grandstand. Other items the club will sell include hot dogs and flavored pop.

Flathers isn't sure what the magical quality is, but he has a theory as to why Havreites and other fairgoers go nuts for fair food.

"Nothing tastes the same," he said. "You can go downtown and order something, but it will be different. You can make the same thing at home, but it doesn't taste the same."

Mike Spencer, Great Northern Fair manger, has a different idea.

"It's the fact that it's all local organizations supporting activities that go on here," he said.

The Great Northern Fair runs Aug. 7-14, and will include 14 food booths.