Inside the family business that turned a famous fair food into an American tradition

DALLAS — Every fall, millions flock to the Lone Star State for one of America's largest and most iconic state fairs, where towering midway rides, blue-ribbon livestock and the latest deep-fried creations compete for attention.

But while each year's newest culinary creation may dominate social media, the State Fair of Texas has long been defined by the long-held traditions that keep generations of families coming back for more.

Few are more recognizable than Fletcher's Original Corny Dogs.

"What started as a simple idea has turned into now an 84-year Texas tradition for fairgoers," Amber Fletcher, a third-generation owner of Fletcher's Original Corny Dogs, told Fox News Digital as the fair kicked off this year.

MEET THE VOTERS WHO COULD BREAK THE GOP’S DECADESLONG GRIP ON A REPUBLICAN STRONGHOLD Her grandfather, Neil Fletcher, and his brother Carl say they invented the corny dog in Dallas in the late 1930s before introducing it at the State Fair of Texas in 1942.

More than eight decades later, that simple creation has grown into a massive family operation.

During the fair's 24-day run, Fletcher's sells roughly 550,000 corny dogs, going through about 60,000 pounds of hot dogs, 1,500 gallons of mustard and 800 gallons of ketchup.

"I don't remember the oil, but it is a lot," Amber Fletcher joked after listing the other metrics.

Yet even as the operation has grown, the family has largely resisted changing the product that made it famous.

"We've never changed our recipe.

We haven't even tinkered a little bit," she said.

"It is the same method and recipe my grandfather started with." TEXAS VOTERS HAVE PLENTY TO SAY ABOUT WHETHER LONE STAR STATE COULD TURN BLUE That stalwart mindset includes resisting shortcuts, too.

"There's a lot of things we could do to speed up the process," Fletcher acknolwedged.

"We could get our hot dogs pre-stuck, but no.