GREEN COVE SPRINGS – Jerry Stalvey ran out of food during this year’s Clay County Agriculture Fair. And after constantly smoking meat, scooping macaroni and cheese and serving French fries for more than a week, he was too tired to make a run to the grocery store.

“I’m going to run out tomorrow (a day before the fair closed), and when I do, I ain’t cookin’ no more,” he said. “I’ve cooked everything I had.”

Stalvey’s barbecue stand in the busy food court was busy the moment the fair opened on March 30 and stayed busy until midday on April 7 – a day before the fair closed.

The fair drew a record crowd of 156,480, and they certainly brought their appetites. Most food vendors said they also served a record number of hungry customers.

“This year has been big,” said Barbara Ryals, who ran U-Do-It’s Slush Factory. “It has been great, the best I’ve seen. And the people here have been great.”

This year’s fair was so successful that vendors could absorb lost revenue on the final two days. Heavy storms, and cold and rainy weather, affected the bottom line, but most had surpassed record numbers long before the first dark cloud appeared.

“We had our best year,” said Abbi Bell, whose family ran the Cedar River Seafood stand, “and the last two days were a loss because of the weather. Normally, the last two days are our busiest. We probably lost 20% of what we could have had. But we did more in the first nine days than we’ve done in the past. It was a record year for us.”

Despite poor weather in the final two days, the fair still attracted more than 8,532 more patrons than its previous record year in 2021.

Bell said her booth sold 500 pounds – nearly 23,000 – of fried shrimp.

Stalvey said he cooked everything he had, including 200 chickens, 248 racks of ribs, 400 pounds of pork, 400 pounds of chicken gizzards, 130 pork chops, 800 pounds of French fries and 28 beef briskets.

“This is the biggest year we’ve had – and I’ve been coming here for 23 years,” he said. “I want to thank everyone who came out and ate with us. If I’m still here, I’ll be back next year.”

Sam Peachey, who owns the wildly popular Peachey Baking Company, said the Clay County Fair is his favorite stop on the busy fair circuit. His stand sold so many Amish doughnuts he said it was impossible to calculate.

But he said he rolled out, deep fried and dipped nearly 4,000 pounds – that’s two tons – of dough in a sugary glaze.

“We do a lot of big fairs, like the Strawberry Festival and State Fair, but this is our favorite, by far,” Peachey said. “I don’t know how many doughnuts we made, but this is the busiest year yet.

“Everyone here is so great. This is one of the best-run fairs. We love coming here.”

Peachey’s bakery is based in Sarasota.

On April 2, the first Sunday of the fair, a record crowd of 23,475 filled the food court and created lines at each of the rides and exhibits. It also pushed food vendors to keep pace with the demands.

Coca-Cola said it sold more than 80 extra cases – nearly 2,000 bottles – of water compared to a year ago.

Fair-goers also were thirsty for lemonade. At one stand, a worker said his booth went through more than 200 pounds of sugar on the first weekend. Overall, they expected to use more than 500 pounds during the 11-day event.