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THE ASTORIAN • TuESdAy, July 19, 2022
A classic American concession was first fried in Oregon
The coastal roots
of the corn dog
By MEAGAN CUTHILL
Oregon Public Broadcasting
You see them at festivals and fairs
across the country. At sporting events.
At concession stands for any occasion,
really. They’re an American classic —
corn dogs. And it may surprise you that
the beloved fried food on a stick was
invented at the Oregon Coast.
Along U.S. Highway 101 in Rocka-
way Beach, an offbeat roadside attrac-
tion can’t be missed. Drivers likely do a
double take at the sight of a giant corn
dog on the roof. It’s a massive fiberglass
corn dog. A Pronto Pup, to be exact.
“To my knowledge, the history of the
Pronto Pup was created in Rockaway in
the late 1930s, early ‘40s, a little closer
to town,” said Diane Langer, who bought
the modern-day Original Pronto Pup
with her husband in late 2021.
The birth of the Pronto Pup goes back
to Labor Day 1939. It was on that day
that George Boyington, who ran a hot
dog stand in Rockaway Beach with his
wife, had an idea as he sat with over-
stocked stale buns. What about a batter
that could be cooked on demand?
Boyington determined a delicious,
pronto solution. The new snack on a
stick became a point of local pride.
The Original Pronto Pup first opened
in 2016, as an homage to the culinary
creation invented in town roughly eight
decades earlier.
Taking Pronto Pups nationwide
Soon after Boyington nailed down the
recipe, he started the mass production of
the Pronto Pup batter mix out of Port-
land. The product soon gained nation-
wide attention. Boyington trademarked
the brand name and began to franchise
the business.
Today, Pronto Pups are especially
popular in the Midwest. Gregg Karnis,
owner of Minnesota’s Pronto Pup fran-
chise, has had a lifetime’s worth of expe-
rience with Pronto Pups in that region of
the country.
Karnis’ father was a Marine who
ended his service in 1944 in Portland.
After leaving his ship in the city, the
older Karnis heard about Pronto Pups
and went on to become one of the first
franchise owners, opening up a shop in
Chicago.
“(The business) was an instant suc-
cess. … At that point in time, the whole
concept of a batter-coated hot dog and a
stick was literally sweeping the nation
and people were buying product club
franchises from coast to coast,” Karnis
said of his father’s franchise.
The elder Karnis was then approached
to bring Pronto Pups to the Minnesota
State Fair in 1947. They’ve been a fair
staple operated by the Karnis family ever
since — and it is a full-blown operation.
“We’ve got a main commissary,
which is nearly 3,500 square feet, where
we simply do production. We have a
retail end in front, like a storefront if you
will. But the whole back of the build-
ing is production. … The batter’s mixed.
It gets delivered to the locations. We
have a total of eight locations on state
fairgrounds.”
Over the course of the Minnesota
Photos by Arya Surowidjojo/Oregon Public Broadcasting
Diane Langer, the co-owner of The Original Pronto Pup, stands outside the Rockaway Beach business in April.
State Fair, people buy a lot of Pronto
Pups.
“On the average we go through about
36 tons of hot dogs in a 12-day state fair
and usually, well over a hundred tons of
batter we mix up. So, it’s hundreds of
thousands of pups that are served each
year,” said Karnis.
If those numbers don’t prove Minne-
sota’s love of Pronto Pups, state lawmak-
ers officially recognized them in 2016.
“We got called down to the Minnesota
state Legislature in St. Paul, the capital,”
for a resolution recognizing Pronto Pups’
contribution to the Minnesota State Fair,
Karnis said, remembering the occasion.
“And it was like the most probably
heartfelt touching warmest moment of
my entire life. Because at that point in
time, I realized that, boy, what my mom
and dad brought up to Minnesota is far
more than I ever, ever imagined it to be.”
While Minnesota has embraced the
Pronto Pup for generations, the trade-
marked batter still all comes from Port-
land. And in Rockaway Beach, where
The Original Pronto Pup location was
named to honor the pup’s local origins,
there’s also a strong following.
A corny tradition
A corn dog may seem like more of
a lunch or dinner food. At The Original
Pronto Pup, people are eager to place
an order as soon as the doors unlock at
10 a.m.
“It’s actually pretty amazing when
you realize how big of a following Pronto
Pups have, and when people come in and
they say, ‘We drove three hours to come
and have a Pronto Pup.’ Or, ‘We came
Customers sit outside The Original Pronto Pup in
Rockaway Beach, with one dipping a corn dog into
a serving of mustard.
from Idaho.’ Or, ‘We came from Michi-
gan,’” said Langer. “A lot of times they
say, ‘We waited for you to open today so
we could come in.’ And, ‘We changed
our route or our destination so that we
could stop in.’”
There’s also another type of fanfare
that Pronto Pup enthusiasts can find in
Rockaway Beach: the mechanical corn
dog.
Like a mechanical bull or horse on a
merry-go-round, the corn dog is outfit-
ted with a saddle. Popping in a couple
of quarters to a slot makes the ride start.
Those young and young at heart take the
corn dog for a spin.
The Original Pronto Pup boasts a
whole corny experience dedicated to the
brainchild of Boyington’s creation from
all those years ago.
The process of making a pup is sim-
ple as it was back then.
“So, we mix the batter up each day by
hand, everything needs to be on a stick
in order for it to stay under the oil in the
fryer. … We put sticks in everything.
Then everything is dipped by hand.
Everything is made to order,” Langer
explained, as she carefully demonstrated
the process before opening on a Friday
in mid-April.
Langer points to two reasons why
Pronto Pups have been a longtime crowd
favorite.
“People love roadside attractions and
people love fried foods, you know?” she
said with a laugh.
Karnis agreed, also with a chuckle.
“I know this much: that (customers
are) willing to wait in line for one, and
when they get it, a lot of times they’ll,
they’ll get a handful of them, maybe 8,
9, 10… And they’ll bring ‘em and every-
one’s grabbing for their Pronto Pups, but
they definitely have a complete look of
total satisfaction because it’s state fair
time again. And we can get a freshly
made hand-dipped, original Pronto Pup
like we’ve done for generations.”
Enjoyment of Pronto Pups is a tradi-
tion that spans both decades and geogra-
phy, from the Oregon Coast to the Min-
nesota State Fair and back again.