Pronto Pup is an amusement park and carnival food similar to a corn dog made with flour mix, which is used by restaurants and street vendors across the United States. Named for the speed of the cooking process, the Pronto Pup was invented in Rockaway Beach, Oregon and is marketed as the original corn dog. Pronto Pup batter is made with pancake batter, whereas non-descript corn dogs use variations of cornbread batter. While both include cornmeal, the difference is in the sweetness: corn dogs have it; Pronto Pups don’t. Today, the Pronto Pup brand reflects both the specific type of batter used for the first corn dogs and the shared brand name of restaurants who use the batter manufactured by The Pronto Pup Company based in Portland, Oregon. Outside of Oregon, where they were invented, Pronto Pups are a common food found in county fairs throughout Minnesota, Nebraska, Iowa, and North and South Dakota. Some differ from the original by using a bratwurst instead of a hot dog as the sausage. Inventing the Pronto Pup The Pronto Pup was invented in Rockaway Beach, Oregon by husband-and-wife team George and Versa Boyington in the late 1930s. The Boyingtons ran a small hot dog stand on the beach, selling them to tourists and locals. While vending concessions in Rockaway Beach, Oregon, George Boyington hit a breaking point over Labor Day weekend in 1939 when the rain came and ruined his stock of hot dog buns. While feeding the scraps of his ruined buns to the seagulls, he began thinking of ways he could cook buns on the spot, as they were needed. From there, George Boyington developed the Pronto Pup, a deep-fried solution that was portable for vendors and pleasing to taste. He named it the “Pronto Pup” for the speed of the cooking process. The Pronto Pup made its big commercial debut from a fountain shop window owned by the Boyingtons in Portland, Oregon. Right from the start, the tasty treat was a crowd favorite: in September 1941, over 15,000 Pronto Pups were consumed at the Pacific International Livestock Exposition. While a few other places across the country claim to be the birthplace of the corn dog, no known claims predate the Boyingtons’ Rockaway Beach Pronto Pup invention. Expansion The Boyingtons trademarked the Pronto Pup name in 1942, and began selling franchises of the carnival treat. Their company, later called The