LOCKPORT, N.Y. (WKBW) — After 57 years of serving up breakfast to hundreds of people, the iconic Niagara County Fair fry pan has been put up on display for all fairgoers to enjoy.
From 1962 to 2019, the Niagara County Fair started the same way, with the Farm City Breakfast cooked on top of its 15-foot-wide and 2,000-pound fry pan.
Me: “What kind of utensils are you using to cook with?”
Justin Rogers: “Well, some of it was with a shovel. We had a rake and hoes…and it took a team of 10-12 people to cook on it for the size of it.”
WATCH: 'This is the largest fry pan': 15-foot-tall, 2,000-pound fry pan display at Niagara County Fair
The pan holds no Guinness World Records, but if you ask Deborah Sweeney, who is a member of the fair’s board of directors and the former fry pan chairperson, she believes it’s record-setting.
“I’ve gone back through my records. In 1962, they referred to it as the world’s largest then…In the past year, we did more research, and we haven’t found any bigger in the country,” Sweeney said.
Sweeney told me the fair first received the pan after it had originally been displayed at the New York State Fair.
The fry pan was a breakfast staple from the early 1960s until it was retired in 2019.
For the 2025 Niagara County Fair, it serves a new purpose as an artifact and attraction for all.
“I just hope it’s a reminder of the Niagara County Fair,” Niagara County Fair Director Justin Rogers said.
“Well, it brings back a lot of memories from over the years,” Waters, who is also a member of the fair’s board of directors, said.
If you want to re-live Niagara County history, or see what could be the nation’s largest fry pan, the exhibit will be dedicated at 9:30 a.m., just after the 8 a.m. Farm City Breakfast, when the fair opens on Wednesday.
