Thursday morning when the 2010 Great New York State Fair opens its gates at 8am, a 12-day food fest and exploration of the best of NY local food producers takes the spotlight. But this year, hungry fairgoers have more than paper maps and memories of last year's food vendors to help them find their favorite fair food sellers.

On the Great NY State Fair website, in the Visitor Center section, the fair hosts interactive maps that fairgoers can open on their home computers or smartphones. Along with the interactive Fairgrounds map and the printable version, this year's visitors can now load up the Fair Food Finder map. The newest NY State Fair map shows visitors where individual food vendors are located on the fairgrounds. Fairgoers can search by vendor name, category of food (on-a-stick, about $1), or the name of the food (walkaway sundae.)

Categories in the Fair Food Finder map include:

- on-a-stick

- unique

- fried

- (about a) buck or less

- insider's guide coupon

- desserts & snacks

- NY foods

- breakfast

- healthy choices

- vegetarian meals

- international food

The vendor search box lists all of the fair food vendors. If visitors only remember part of the name, they can scroll through the list to find the food seller. If the food doesn't fit into any other category, visitors can type in a food item name to find the nearest location on the map.

Smart phone users will need the latest version of Java/Flash installed on their phones to take full advantage of the map features on the go.

Look for more Syracuse Food 2010 NY State Fair food information each day. Click Subscribe to have updates delivered free to your inbox, so you won't miss any NY State Fair news. And be sure to share your favorite fair food finds in the comments! For more of Syracuse Food's favorite local foods, bookmark this list.

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