People line up at the Iowa State Fair’s new donut shop

DES MOINES, Iowa — There’s a new donut shop in town. Prior provider Peachey’s Donuts did not return to the State Fair this year, so a new doughnut maker was recruited. Josephine’s Handmade Glazed Doughnuts from the South Bend Indiana area was recruited to take over this year. The business is owned by Gentry Miller and Emily Josephine Miller, along with their kids who often travel to shows.

“It’s about 1200 square ft. and it is not a permanent building which is very large footprint for a temporary structure,” said Miller. “We make all of from scratch right here on all day long, long process take about an hour from the start, to when it’s in your hand. We’ve got really good systems in place we not maintain our quality but do it quickly.”

Miller says that even though the line is long, they shoot for a ten minute wait.

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“We love fairs we love agriculture. It’s an honor to be involved in the Iowa State Fair,” said Miller. “My family did another state fair and they started 1967 and I’ve grown up on fairs my whole life. It’s a real generation thing in my family.”

The Millers took a long time to craft the recipe for their donuts. They looked to some old recipes for elephant ear donuts. They hand craft each donut to make sure not of the dough is wasted.

Much of how they operate their stand is impacted by what they learn from social media.

“We took a old Elephant Ear doughnut recipe in which we tweaked and tweaked it until we finally perfected the recipe we thought was great for the donuts,” said Miller. “We actually press them, and roll out with a roller, we don’t like waste, we actually formed my hand. That’s why they’re called handcrafted glazed donuts.”

Gentry Miller, and wife Emily both come from families who’ve spent decades in the fair food business. Now they are continuing that legacy.