ThisEast

Dallas family’s legacy spans sno cones to Texas Fried Fritos Pie

Story by Rachel Stone

Photos by Benjamin Hager

Ice cream sandwiches and sno cones were cool novelties at the state fair some 90 years before the invention of Texas Fried Frito Pie.

Before there was all-fried everything, there was Sammy Bert of East Dallas.

Bert started selling ice cream sandwiches at the State Fair of Texas in 1919. Some accounts credit him as the inventor of sno cones that year, and in 1927, he invented the first motordrivenice-shavingmachinetomake sno cones for the masses.

The World War I veteran’s entrepreneurship at the fair lasted decades, and his legacy has spanned generations.

SammyBert died in 1984, but his children,grandchildrenandgreat-

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grandchildrenstillworkatthefair. This year, they won a Big TexChoice Award for Texas Fried Fritos Pie, the inventionoffamilyfriends,Michael ThomasandRichardRoznowskiof Lakewood.

Bert’sBurgers and Fries, one of the family’ssevenconcessionstands,is right outside the Cotton Bowl, a few steps from the site of their patriarch’s dynasty, long gone.

“Sno cones were our start, and we expandedlikeeveryoneelse,”says NickBert Sr., 73, the son of Sammy Bert.

Theysoldpeanutsandpopcorn thepopcornboxeswere 5 cents and featured a picture of sister Elena Lowry.

The elder Bert built a wooden rollercoaster,theComet,in1947.All through the middle of the century, the Comet was as much a landmark at the fair as Big Tex.

He also built a roller-skating rink, CottonBowl Skating, and a cafeteria run by his wife, Mary Bert.

“Being Italian, we always had meatballs and spaghetti,” says Sam Bert Jr., 74.

She also served fried chicken, greens and cornbread along with other typical cafeteria fare, and it was the only restaurant at Fair Park.

After the Dallas cowboys debuted at the cotton bowl in 1960, they often would have their postgame parties in the skating rink.

Nick bertrecallsseeinglegendary quarterback Don Meredith around the park, and once, he saw him carrying buckets of water for players to drink. It was a different NFL then.

And it was a different fair.

bert’sattractionsran year-round, but during the state fair, the family spent all of its time there, even sleeping above the cafeteria, where Sammy bert had his office.

“It was hard to sleep because you wouldhear themsweeping allthe bottles and cans off the street,” says Vera Bert, who’s been involved in the fair since she married Nick Bert almost 50 years ago.

“We basically had carte blanche. I could go skating anytime, and if I wanted something to eat, it was right there.” BENEFITS

That was back when sanitation was less than a priority at the fair, and trash would cover the grounds at the end of a day, she says.

NickBert Jr., 47, remembers sitting in mom Vera’s lap while she worked the cash register at one of the family’s concession stands. As kids, he and his siblings and cousins anticipated state fair time the same way some kids look forward to Christmas.

“I couldn’t wait for it. We basically had carte blanche,” he says.

By then, his grandfather had added new amusements — the Flash and the Wild Mouse. And his uncle owned the merry go round. So they were always free to ride.

“I could go skating anytime, and if I wanted something to eat, it was right there,” he says.

Now he takes leave from his job as a DallasCounty Sheriff’s deputy to work full time at the fair every year.

Hisnephew,17-year-oldZachary Paul, is the fourth generation of Berts at the state fair.

TheyoungerNickBertstillfinds something romantic and fun about the state fair, but it is a grind. For a little more than three weeks, he works from 5:30 or 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. or midnight.

WhentheBigTexChoiceAwards first started in the ’90s, he gave it a go with fried meatballs — a tribute to his grandmother. But that was before someone decided to batter and fry a Twinkie, before fried foods became the starofstatefairpublicity.Andthe fried meatball never took off.

So he gave it a rest for a few years, but in 1999, he came up with fried cheesecake, which is still a hot seller at the fair.

“I think the Frito pie is one of these, too,” he says. “It’s going to take off and stay around awhile.”

And so the legacy continues.

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