Inflation brings uptick in fair food favorites

EAST PALESTINE, Ohio (WKBN) — Prices have been climbing since the start of the pandemic. Now inflation is at an all-time high causing prices to rise more. Wednesday night East Palestine hosted their Street Fair and there was a noticeable uptick in some of the fair food favorites.

“Just a dollar each item because everything else has gone so high,” said gyro stand owner Alexandra Vlahos.

Vlahos has been running her gyro stand for 47 years and coming to East Palestine’s Street Fair for the last decade.

“The gyro meat went up plus the produce. That was my biggest surprise. The produce went so high,” said Vlahos.

She said she had no choice but to raise prices one dollar this year.

“We haven’t even had one person complaining. I was afraid to tell you the truth at the beginning. I didn’t want people to get upset. We already did two festivals,” said Vlahos.

Just down the street, Shirley’s Steak and Sausage has been cooking up meats for the last 50 years.

“Everything has definitely gone up for us but we are just trying our best to keep our prices low,” said Madison Mullen with Shirley’s Steak and Sauage.

We’re told they haven’t increased prices — at least not yet.

“Our produce. We’ve seen an increase in that. I know meat is on the rise as well,” said Mullen.

Plus travel expenses just to get to the festivals. The average price is about $4.50 in Ohio and is projected to go up this summer.

“We drive a lot of big trucks. We go pretty far,” said Mullen.

Still, people keep coming out in droves for the good food.

“This offseason to see things go up — it was a little nerve-racking. Who’s going to drive out to the fair? Who’s gonna come spend money on meals? But we have seen that a lot of people are still here,” said Mullen.