After Last Year’s Fire Weidner’s BBQ Will Be Back at the Fair

It was a grim scene last summer when the iconic Weidner's BBQ stand lay in ruins after a quick moving fire during a busy Saturday night at the Erie County Fair.  One of the fair's longest operating concessionaires, Weidner's has been at the fair for 62 years and after the fire its future was in question.

On Thursday, the Gerber family, owners of Weidner's BBQ put those concerns to rest with the announcement that the stand will be back in a new location.  Charley Gerber, the grandson of Bert Weidner who opened the family's first stand at the fair in 1956 said all of the menu items including the 1885 Burger will be back at the new location with the possibility of some new items.

The new stand will be located on the Avenue of the Flags across from the Tops Avenue of the Flags stage near the Conservation Building.  It'll be just a short walk from Gate 2.  Erie County Fair CEO Jessica Underberg said "it just wouldn't be the same Fair without a chicken dinner from Weider's."

Last year's fire that started in the kitchen area destroyed the stand which had been located behind the Erie County Fair grandstand.  A few days later the remains of the stand were torn down.  The soot-covered remains of the Weidner sign that was salvaged from the fire-damaged stand flanked either side of the podium for Thursday's press conference.