In the early 1980s, a country dancing couple from Dallas had an encounter with funnel cake that would alter their lives. John and Wanda “Fernie” Locke Winter had been hired to host a week of events at Kirkwood Lodge, a square-dancing spot in Osage Beach, Missouri. John was a well-known “caller” who read out steps to choreographed dances as Fernie demonstrated. They went twice every year, but this time, something different caught their attention.
“Mother was so excited when she came back, telling us about—‘I think I found something we need to bring to the fair,’ ” remembers the couple’s youngest daughter, Johnna McKee. And that something was funnel cake.