BLACKFOOT — State fair time is when people dream of being able to just walk through the food booths all over the grounds and eat as much as they can of as much as there is to offer.

The Eastern Idaho State Fair, which started Friday, gives members of the media the chance to do that with the Best Fair Food contest the day before the start of the nine-day fair, and a large group of media representatives from throughout southeast Idaho got together Thursday morning and took two hours to determine which vendors had the best eats for 2019.

And now we won’t waste any time listing the media’s favorites in four categories.

Fairest Entree went to CR Fish & Things’ Smoked Salmon Bagel.

The top prize for Fairest Sweets went to Mama and Papa Leo’s Ice Cream Baked Potato — it’s not a potato at all, it’s mostly ice cream rolled in cocoa with other toppings to make it look exactly like a baked potato.

The Best New Entree went to Richard Johnson’s Mexican Crazy Corn Nachos, which was indeed a taste treat.

The Best New Sweet was Creamy Creations’ Birthday Bash Cake and Shake.

Entries were judged based on appearance and taste, and Creamy Creations’ winning creation was unique indeed with the cake and a crispy treat sitting on either side of a dollop of frosting in a clear plastic container, with the tray sitting on top of a cup holding the shake portion of the concoction.

This was my first exposure to the contest, and even though I followed the advice of state fair Manager Brandon Bird and took small portions of each selection — pacing myself — by the end of the contest, the enjoyment turned into a touch of misery with a full stomach (I wasn’t alone), and later on in the afternoon the urge to take a bit of a nap was persistent.

The enjoyment still outweighed the misery.

The judges sat at tables for each category — I sat at the Best New Sweets table — and judged each selection as they were brought out by the vendors. Samples of the wide variety of entrees and sweets were possible to grab if the judge was quick and aggressive enough, regardless of the category.

Through it all, my first exposure to all that I could grab or felt like grabbing brought about a variety of thoughts going beyond the winning entries ...

• CR Fish and Things had a few good entries beside the winning salmon bagel sandwich, such as peach churro donuts and Bananas Foster churro donuts that delighted the tastebuds.

• Be on the lookout for cheesesteaks and smoked macaroni and cheese. The latter entry was made just right, taking a classic comfort food and giving it a tasty, smoke-filled boost.

• If you like burgers made with frosted doughnuts, barbecue sauce, fry sauce, and bacon, you’re in luck because there’s plenty to choose from. My palate when it comes to that is still trying to wrap itself around the concept.

• The combination of the fair-food staple of funnel cakes and Fruity Pebbles cereal and whipped cream made Snappy’s sweet entry a clear winning underdog in my mind. Oh, my goodness.

• I used to watch episodes of “Man Vs. Food” and wonder how the guy did that, and I’m still left wondering.

• This will be a great year for food at the fair.

The fair continues through Sept. 7.