Orange taste buds first in region for Dole Whip at weekend's fun fair

Here for its third time, the city's Fun Fair for 2022 has more planned than the epic flashing lights on offer from February 11 to 13 at the Orange Showground this weekend - and we're talking about the edible side of things here.

"We saw this long line of people when we were at Disneyland and we had no idea what it was for, but we thought hey, it must be alright if there's that many people queuing up!" Australian Dole Whip distributor, Ted Foster laughed.

The pineapple Dole Whip - a dairy-free swirl of frozen soft-serve goodness - was only available to the taste buds lucky enough to visit the epic Disneyland theme parks.

Though, the sweet-treat - which has its own merchandise line now - finally landed on Australian shores in 2021 thanks to one determined guy, Ted Foster - an Aussie who stumbled across it with his daughter about 12 years ago.

"We just fell in love with it - it's a beautiful flavour, it's light, its refreshing - and in terms of distribution, it ticks all the boxes; from vegan, dairy-free, lactose-free and gluten-free," Mr Foster said.

Making its debut at the Sydney Royal Easter Show last year, Mr Foster's now busting to dole out some Dole Whip to us country folk in the Central Western traps.

"We're really excited to give Central West locals a taste of Disneyland," he said.

"We launched our Dole Whip in Australia during COVID, and we're giving regional areas the opportunity to enjoy the cult classic, too."

With four flavours on offer for Orange Fun Fair-goers this weekend, the original pineapple will be available, of course, along with strawberry, mango and watermelon.

"From having no idea what it was or what we were lining up for, it's really a beautifully-flavoured treat - and it doesn't give you that 'I've got to sit down' feeling afterwards like with dairy ice-cream - which ticks another box, as well."

While Bathurst residents will have to either road-trip it to the colour city, or wait it out until its turn next weekend, Orange residents will get the first Dole Whip taste, and more.

In the serious business of all-things-carnival-treats, the promise of stick-impaled sausages will be promptly delivered, too.

According to The Fun Fair's owner and operator, Josh Evans talked about his family's claim-to-fame - where its said his grandparents birthed the very first Dagwood Dogs in Australia , and added their own secret family twist to the encased edible.

"My grandparents first saw the Dagwood Dog - or Pluto Pup as some people call it - at a fair in America and introduced it to Australia on their return," Mr Evans said.

"We're still using their original recipe today at our events [and] you won't find frozen, mass produced Dagwood Dogs at our family-run stall."

Also owner and operator, Mr Evans' partner, Jade Evans says she's eager for the weekend, looking forward to seeing the city's fair-goers enter Orange Showground's gates from 4:30pm on Friday.

"We love the Central West and have had brilliant support from locals in previous years - we always get a really nice crowd along," Mrs Evans said.

"We're going to continue organising regional events within NSW - just like we're doing with heading back out to Orange and Bathurst."

Drawn on Thursday afternoon, the Central Western Daily is also giving three lucky readers the chance to win family passes for Orange's Fun Fair this weekend, so, get in quick to be in the running.

All things considered - and run by grateful operators offering unlimited-rides passes for hours on end at just $30 a pop online - it seems to leave a very narrow window for event cons.