Newell man eats 11 donuts to win local contest

Colton Lingren of Newell ate 11 glazed donuts to win the 13-and-up division of the Buena Vista County Fair donut-eating contest, turning a fairground challenge into the kind of story Buena Vista County will repeat for a while. The contest drew winners in more than one category, including an Adult Volunteer division, and gave the fair a burst of the kind of local competition that fills the midway with cheers and laughter.

The Buena Vista County Fair made the donut contest part of its lineup of summer attractions, and the format was simple enough for the crowd to follow as the count climbed. Lingren’s total of 11 glazed donuts put him on top of the 13-and-up group, giving Newell a hometown name to attach to the win and a number that is easy to remember long after the last tray was cleared.

That is the appeal of a contest like this in a county-fair setting. It is not just about the absurdity of seeing how far someone can go with a stack of donuts; it is about neighbors gathering around one specific moment and reacting together when one person pushes farther than the rest. Buena Vista County Fair posts pointed to winners across the contest, which helped make the event feel less like a stunt and more like a small, organized part of the fair’s social life.

Competitive eating has a much bigger stage than Buena Vista County. Major League Eating keeps a contests calendar for the sport, and similar local doughnut contests have shown up in places such as Stark County and Bellingham. But the Buena Vista County version stayed rooted in local bragging rights, with the Newell winner’s 11-donut total serving as the number that defined the day.

There is also a serious edge to any eating challenge. AP has reported that Travis Malouff, 42, died of asphyxia in 2017 after choking during a doughnut-eating challenge in Denver, a reminder that even lighthearted contests depend on limits being respected. In Buena Vista County, though, the contest landed where fair contests usually do, as a playful rivalry with a local winner and a story that will travel from booth to booth the next time the fair opens.