State Fair of Texas Opens Fried Food Preview to Public

The artery-clogging annual fried food extravaganza known as the State Fair of Texas won't kick off until September 26, but this year folks chomping at the bit for a taste of deep-fried absurdities can get in on the action a few weeks early — if they're willing to cough up some cold hard cash.

The annual Big Tex Choice Awards, an event that's usually relegated only to judges and media types, is being opened to the public this year for the first time ever; a "limited number" of tickets are available now for a cool $100 each. (According to the ticketing website, "proceeds from the event will go directly to the State Fair of Texas Scholarship Fund.") Said ticket price also includes a Big Tex t-shirt (hooray) and one regular admission ticket to the Fair.

For the uninitiated, the Big Tex Choice Awards is the annual pre-Fair food competition that helps ramp up excitement for whatever that year's fried absurdities will be; last year's winners included Fried Thanksgiving Dinner (which is pretty much exactly what it sounds like) and the deep-fried Cuban Roll, basically a Cuban sandwich stuffed into eggroll packaging.

· State Fair of Texas [Official]
· What You'll Be Eating at the 2013 State Fair of Texas [-EDFW-]
· All State Fair of Texas coverage on Eater Dallas [-EDFW-]

These trophies aren't creepy at all. [Photo: State Fair of Texas/Facebook]