DES MOINES, Iowa — Almost three decades after a tragedy, the owner of Jada’s Concessions at the Iowa State Fair is getting some much deserved recognition.
At the 1996 Iowa State Fair, Jada Smith’s parents, Bobbie and Marilyn Blewer, were murdered by a hitman hired by their oldest daughter, Jamie Borushaski. Jamie, her husband Rodney Borushaski and the hitman Jerimy Sneed are all serving life sentences in prison.
For this year’s state fair, Jada invented the funnel cake burger, which was named one of the top 11 new foods. When they were alive the Blewers always dreamed of creating one, but they never could get the recipe right. Jada has been working at her family’s concession stand since she was a little girl.
“Growing up this was our summer vacation,” Jada said. “We didn’t take trips. We didn’t go to amusement parks. We went to the fair.”
For her parents the concession stand was their livelihood.
“My dad would travel May through October,” Jada said. “Us kids, we'd come back at the beginning of September. We’d miss the first week or two of school.”
On Aug. 12 1996, the Blewers were shot to death in their bus at the fair campgrounds.
“It was a nightmare,” Jada said. “It was a rollercoaster.”
Jada was 17 at the time.
“I was just a little kid,” Jada said. “I didn’t know who was going to take care of me. I didn’t know where I was going to live.”
In 2019 Jada returned to the state fair and renamed her family’s stand Jada's Concessions.
“I knew it was my mom and dad’s dream to continue this dream and it’s pretty much all I’ve ever known,” Jada said.
Being named one of the top 11 foods is a first for Jada and to her knowledge a first for her parents as well.
“With a lot of trial and error and advice from family and friends, here we are in the top 11 and we’re very happy and thrilled,” Jada said.
Jada’s Concessions will be open from 10 a.m. to midnight every day of the fair, except the last day when it will be open 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.