State Fair of Texas, 2026 New Food, Big Tex Choice Awards Semi-Finalist
Located at Former Log Ride on the Funway
A float is supposed to be soda and ice cream. Simple. Two ingredients, done.
This one brought a square dance’s worth of extra partners to the glass.
What This Thing Actually Is
An ice cold Dr Pepper gets a drizzle of creamy coconut, then gets topped with Dr Pepper flavored Dippin’ Dots, fresh lime, whipped cream, red sprinkles, and a Dr Pepper jellybean.
The whole thing arrives with a chili-lime salt and chamoy rim, served with both a straw and a spoon so you can sip and scoop at the same time.
One soda, one flavor of ice cream, and five separate garnishes, all built around a drink Texas has been proud of since 1885.
Brandon Coston of Coston Concessions built it, served at the Dippin’ Dots stand on the Funway.
The Part That’s Actually Funny
Dr Pepper was invented in Waco. Texans have claimed it as a state birthright for over a century, and it usually shows up at the Fair in the simplest form possible: cold, in a cup, done.
This entry treats that same soda like a canvas instead. Coconut, chili-lime, chamoy, a jellybean shaped like the can itself. None of those flavors naturally belong together on paper.
A straw for sipping and a spoon for scooping means the drink couldn’t even settle on one utensil, let alone one flavor.
It landed in this year’s semi-finalist field, one of dozens of new items chasing attention out of a record 77 Big Tex Choice Award entries in 2026.
Why Texas Keeps Doing This
Everything is bigger in Texas, including the number of garnishes one soda float can carry before it stops being a float and starts being a dessert course.
A plain Dr Pepper float would have worked fine on a hot September afternoon. Texas built the version that turns a state soda into a five-topping production, because simple was never going to win a competition built on spectacle.
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