Matt Pankuch's battle station is not out on a field - it's behind a cotton candy machine at the New Mexico State Fair.
People call Pankuch the Cotton Candy King.
"I can put out cotton candy if I'm just running machine probably in a matter of 30 seconds," he said.
The business is more than 20 years old, but Pankuch has been there for eight years making cotton candy. He said he turns on the machine at 11 a.m. and some days does not stop until 9 p.m.
From what he hears from customers, "We're the only ones on the fairgrounds that do it made-to-order on a stick," he said.
The venue is in the Dairy Barn at the fair, but Pankuch said they don't advertise because they already have enough business.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
"We're more just about if you can find us, you've found something," he said.
Pankuch said the business is more like a partnership than an employer-worker set up. It also has those people that just keep coming back year-to-year.
"I've watched quite a few kids grow up over the years," Pankuch said.
Two staple colors come out of the machine: pink and blue. Once in a while Pankuch said he'll get crazy and make green or purple.
"We get several people that are pretty picky about their colors," he said. "But we stick with the standard colors because they're easiest and provide the least complaints."
Cotton candy is 99 percent sugar - the rest is air and coloring.
On a weekend, the venue can go through more than 150 pounds of sugar.
The sugar is heated and then melted, turning it into a liquid. Small holes in the machine allow the liquid sugar to flow through and form threads. Then the liquid sugar is thrown outward and forced through the holes by a spinning head. The threads are caught in a bowl and it goes out to the customers.
The most excited people - no, it's not the kids - are parents, Pankuch said.
"It's not really that big of a show for (kids)," he said.
When he was younger, he was not into the stuff either. He doesn't even like it now.
"I don't know what people get out of it," he said. "I'll probably stick a little handful in my mouth sometime during the fair to reaffirm my dislike for it."
Every year Pankuch says it's his last year, but he always comes back.
"It's just one of those things," he said. "It does provide a pretty good financial product, and we have just as much fun as they let us have out there."
The prices have gone up this year for the cotton candy. A small is still $1, but medium and large have each gone up a buck.
"I'm sure I'm going to hear about it," he said.
