The legacy of Iowa State Fair's corn dog king, Calvin Campbell, to be honored at fairgrounds
A bold pronouncement of Calvin Campbell’s personal calling often made its appearance before the man himself got to say hello. Heck, before the man even got out of his car.
His life’s work was right there on his license plate: CORNDOG.
Campbell may not have invented the corn dog — whose origins are hotly disputed in the food world — but he brought the fair favorite to new heights through Campbell’s Concessions, an Iowa State Fair mainstay that proliferated these deep-fried delicacies throughout the fairgrounds and, for a time, on the menus of four restaurants across the metro.
“Dad loved food,” says Eric Campbell, his son and co-owner of the concession business. “He loved looking at food, and cooking food, and understanding how he could make food be entertainment, too, for people coming to the fair.”
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But more than the food — and, honestly, Eric can’t stress enough how much his dad loved food — Campbell treasured the joy he saw customers get with that first big bite. Their faces lighting up not only from the fresh taste but also from the memories of grandma or grandpa or cousins or just days gone by; bellies and soul warmed in equal measure.
And in the concessions business, Campbell got to watch those faces nearly every day, make himself a part of each and every happy story — even if in the smallest way.
“Everybody at the fair knows he cared about more than just selling a corn dog,” Eric says. “It was about getting more people to enjoy, to make more traditions. It was about a legacy.”
Campbell, who died Nov. 20 surrounded by family, secured a legacy as the corn dog king of Des Moines. But those who know him best say he was also a loving patriarch, an obsessive dog dad, a fanatical fisher and a diehard East Sider. He was 76.
All facets of Campbell’s well-established legacy will be celebrated at a public memorial planned for Dec. 16 at — where else? — the Iowa State Fairgrounds.
How Calvin Campbell became the corn dog king
Born in 1957, Campbell was a lifelong bannerman for Lee Township; a “true, blue East Sider,” Eric says.
He was a proud part of East High’s state champion football team in the mid-1960s and relished hosting Scarlet class reunions at The Depot building during East Side Night.
“He had all those old-time East Side guys and they would sit on the patio,” Eric says. “And they’d bring their guys, and it just got bigger and bigger and bigger.”
An entrepreneur down to his bones, at 11, Campbell jumped the fair fences and shined shoes for the cattle showers and, well, he pretty much never left, Eric says.
“He’s been on those grounds forever, even though he wasn't technically in the corn dog world with my grandfather at that time,” he adds. “But everybody on that side of town was a part of the fair.”
When Campbell married his ex-wife and longtime business partner, Helen Little, he joined what the Register once called the “First Family of Fair Food.”
Little Concessions, which was founded about a century ago by a then-teenage Melvin Little, Helen’s father, started as a ham sandwich and hotdog stand.
In the mid-1950s, Melvin introduced the corn dog to the Iowa State Fair — only back then he called the treat “poncho dogs.” His new-fangled dish was made with a special corn meal-flour batter developed by Pillsbury, Helen previously told the Register, and cooked with a Ferris wheel-like contraption that ran the dogs through hot grease.
Helen and Calvin Campbell bought the business in 1972 and renamed it Campbell’s Concessions, expanding the menu — which included favorites like tenderloins, Italian sausage sandwiches, grinders, beefburgers, popcorn and ice cream — and growing their footprint to the more than dozen stands they have now.
State Fair innovator: Walking tacos and a party hub
Campbell truly found his calling as a traveling concessionaire, Eric says, and his mind never stopped turning over ideas. Back in the 1970s and '80s, fair food was marked by sit-down dinners, but Campbell was one of the first to introduce grab-and-go options, including ready-to-eat breakfast sandwiches and the walking taco, which he first saw at a small-town wrestling tournament.
“He saw people eating out of a bag and he goes, ‘Gosh, that will work for the fair,’” Eric says. “He was a visionary.”
“Even today, he’d pull in and interrupt all of us to tell us exactly what he was thinking.”
In 1978, Campbell opened his first permanent restaurant in a tiny shop at the corner of East 38th Street and Hubbell Avenue, allowing locals and visitors alike to get their favorites outside of just 11 days in August.
The Campbell’s empire would eventually expand to four locations that drew customers from Kansas City, Omaha and even as far away as Texas and California. A longtime waitress told the Register in 2000 she’d have diners ask for 15 grinders to go, just so they could ship them back home.
After nearly three decades, Campbell’s closed its last brick-and-mortar locale in 2004, deciding to focus on the fair circuit and special events.
Campbell continued to find ways to innovate when he purchased The Depot in 1990. Just off the Grand Avenue entrance, Campbell turned The Depot into its own destination and party hub within the grounds, complete with a nighttime DJ and full cocktail menu.
Most afternoons and evenings, Campbell could be found in his favorite green chair, holding court right by the turntables. “That was his oasis,” Eric says.
And if he wasn’t in that chair, he was probably tooling around on his moped — one of only two allowed on the fairgrounds, a special point of pride — checking on corn dog stands and kitchens, making sure signs were visible and food was stocked.
“The Iowa State Fair was fortunate to play a small part in Calvin's journey in the world of concessions. His unwavering dedication and entrepreneurial spirit have not only shaped the success of Campbell’s Concessions, but has also influenced countless others in our fair family,” says Iowa State Fair CEO Jeremy Parsons.
“Many of his Fair friends will miss his casual smile as he rode through the Fairgrounds checking on his stands and overseeing the operations; however, we know his passion for quality fair food and the best corn dogs around have set a standard that will continue in his memory.”
Calvin Campbell’s passion: Generational traditions
Outside of food on a stick, Campbell loved his twice-yearly fishing trips to Canada and his two dogs, Phoenix, a husky, and Eeyore, a long-haired German shepherd, both of which he fed “people food.” He was even known to order them a pizza on occasion.
But his biggest passion was the fair and watching the concession business blossom from generation to generation.
Today, the business operates upward of a dozen corn dog and ice cream stands and the kitchens of four permanent buildings on the fairgrounds, in addition to its contracts with Jack Trice Stadium in Ames and the Hinterland Music Festival, among others.
“I think what he liked about the fair was he could see the new traditions or the new generation coming next, the families,” Eric says. “The fair is a generational thing. It’s tradition. And he loved that.”
Eric isn’t sure yet how the family will honor his father during the fair next summer. After all, what his dad would want most is a lot of big first bites, bellies and souls both warmed.
But Eric is sure of one memorial they’ll keep for years to come: That CORNDOG license plate is definitely staying in the family.
Courtney Crowder, the Register's Iowa Columnist, traverses the state's 99 counties telling Iowans' stories. Reach her at ccrowder@dmreg.com or 515-284-8360.
Memorial to be held Saturday
A Celebration of Life will be held from 1-4 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 16, in the 4-H Building at the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines. In lieu of flowers or gifts, the Campbell family asks that donations be made to the Blue Ribbon Foundation.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Longtime Iowa State Fair corn dog concessionaire Calvin Campbell dies
