A Pop Above returns to Yuma
Local kettle corn business won “Best of the West” at state fair
A Pop Above, the Yumabased kettle corn wagon featured on a Food Network show this spring, has come home for the winter season after winning a “Best of the West” competition with its peers at the Arizona State Fair.
Hunter and Kelly Manzo’s trailer, a cool-weather fixture near the heart of the Yuma Palms mall, has been on a roll lately. Its summer on the road was bookended by an appearance on “Carnival Eats” in March and the victory at the state fair in October.
Hunter Manzo said the state fair recently started holding the contests between vendors of corn dogs and other common fair foods, and they were popular enough with attendees and purveyors to expand to more categories this year.
A Pop Above was invited via email to participate, and was one of four vendors to participate in their particular contest, he said. All were asked to submit their traditional kettlecorn variety, so the Manzos could not enter any of their gourmet creations, which include Birthday Cake and Chicago Style corn.
The entries were judged by a panel of four judges through a blind test which included ratings for flavor, size, shape, overall experience and other parameters, and they learned they had won later that evening.
Manzo said he spoke to the fair’s concession manager later and “she said there was absolutely no competition. Totally, our popcorn was far better than the rest. So that was cool to hear.”
He said he and his wife did not think they were a slam-dunk for the award they now display in their trailer, because they were likely to be up against vendors who’d been established at the fair for decades, while they were just making their debut.
“We didn’t know if the multigenerational families were going to get it because they’ve been there forever,” he said, but the blind taste test made it unlikely those purveyors could be chosen as sentimental favorites.
The victorious couple came back to Yuma, where they have lived for five years, earlier this month. The bright yellow trailer popped up at the Somerton Corn Fest before resuming its Yuma Palms roost in time for the annual tree lighting. It will be there through this weekend, with extended hours to supply Black Friday shoppers.
Another couple, Marty and Sue Dukes, are running a booth every Thursday through Sunday at Arizona Marketplace for A Pop Above and its sister business, A Spice Above.
Befitting their new status, the couple have ordered a state-of-the-art concession trailer which is currently being built in Ohio and scheduled to make its debut Jan. 3-6 at the Western Fairs Convention and Trade Show in Anaheim, Calif. The interior will be about the same size as in their current one, but it will have much longer awnings to expand its size and provide customers with more shade.
With the achievements and expansions under their belt and an Anaheim date in the future, Manzo continues to dream big: “It would be really cool if we could get a contract with Disneyland.”
For more information about the Manzos and their business visit apopabove. com, A Pop Above Kettle Corn on Facebook or call (928) 597-5155.