On A Stick: The Recap [In Photos]

On A Stick — The Recommended Daily’s taste of the state fair — was Thursday, August 14. The sold-out event, which benefited Cultivate Kansas City, brought folks together at the Alexander Majors House Barn to enjoy food on a stick, local beer and spirits, try their hands at games of chance, pose at Say Cheez’s photo booth (with mustaches on sticks) and listen to bluegrass music.

On the first floor of the barn, Little Freshie was serving watermelon basil popsicles, Natasha’s Mulberry & Mott had chocolate-covered bananas and root beer sticks on floats, and Renee Kelly’s Harvest was handing out roasted corn on a stick.

An On-A-Stick-goer tries Natasha’s version of a chocolate-covered banana.

The second floor of the barn had treats from Preservation Market (sausage and Brussels sprouts), Kaldi’s (giving the big thumbs up), Baked in Kansas City (French macarons and pastry cream-filled choux dipped in carmelized sugar) and Our Sassy Pantry (meatballs with savory jam).

A tower of macarons from Baked in Kansas City.

The crowd got a chance to sample food from every vendor and welcome bags courtesy of Whole Foods.

Kaldi’s brought ooey gooey butter cake, part of their goal of introducing the St. Louis classic to Kansas Citians.

Dark Horse Distillery was serving up cocktails on the front lawn.

The puppy kissing booth from Beer Paws and Unleashed Pet Rescue.

Farm to Market Bread Company included a pretzel stick on a stick in the welcome bag.

Crane Brewing Company, which will open in Raytown in 2015, previewed their brews and the Cinder Block Brewery brought a trio of suds, including Hop Maven (a hoppy session brew).

Crane’s Ruby, a magenta-hued cup of beer made with beets.

Stick food demands commitment from eaters.

Konza Swamp played bluegrass tunes for the crowd at picnic tables and on the lawn.

A little bit of food on a stick and some conversation.

The gingham-covered table from Natasha’s Mulberry & Mott with chocolate-covered bananas and a Root Beer Float on a Stick (far right).

Ripple Glass’ ring toss proved to be a challenging game, but a few lucky winners walked home with prizes (stuffed animals, balsa wood airplanes, animal-shaped drinking mugs) from the Cultivate Kansas City booth.

Veggie-costume arm-wrestling was another game of chance on the Midway.

Fair food requires great concentration.

Like all State Fairs, On A Stick came to a close, but we’re hopeful that we can bring it back to town in 2015. Until then, we’ll raise a glass of Cinder Block brew in toast to the volunteers, vendors who donated their time and effort, and the city that came out to support us.

[Images by Jeff Akin/Feed Me Creative]