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The short version: we went, we ate fried dough in the fried chicken line, Riley found a gluten-free haunted house, and I finally learned who bakes the focaccia at Burton’s. The long version is below, including the one thing I learned at the 504 talk that I wish every celiac parent knew.
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The basics
The Wicked Gluten Free New England Expo ran Saturday, September 19, 2026, at the Game On sports complex in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. It’s an indoor vendor fair on the courts (bakeries, pasta, snacks, pickles, beer, plus a handful of travel and education tables), with food trucks lined up in the parking lot outside and a speaker schedule in a side room. We drove up from Connecticut with my husband and our daughter Riley, who is ten and has celiac disease like I do, and we were there from late morning until mid-afternoon.
Tickets were scanned at the door and we were in within a couple of minutes. They hand out Wicked Gluten Free tote bags at the entrance, and you’ll fill one. Bring a cooler or a large bag for the car too, because you leave with more than you planned.
What it’s like inside
Picture a big, bright gym with rows of blue-draped tables and a lot of people who all understand the question “is there a shared fryer?” That part alone is worth the drive. Riley walked up to booths and asked for samples without the little pause she does everywhere else.
The thing I appreciated most as a nurse practitioner: the organizers gave every vendor a sign to display that said either “Dedicated Gluten-Free Facility” or “Shared facility with strict cross-contamination protocols.” It doesn’t replace asking your own questions, but it means the conversation starts in the right place.
There was a photo wall by the entrance with props (“Always in my gluten-free era,” “Gluten-Free Support Person,” which my husband held with great dignity), plenty of seating on the second floor, and a speaker room with talks through the afternoon.
Two practical notes. It gets crowded around the popular bakery tables by midday, and the sample lines move slowly because people are asking real questions. A lot of the popular items at some booths were sold out by 2 pm, so get there early. And the food-truck area is a parking lot with very little shade, so plan on carrying your food upstairs if you want to sit.
The school talk
We sat in on the 2:30 talk on getting to a 504 plan step by step and found it very informative. One thing from it was valuable enough that I want to pull it out on its own, because it addresses a concern I hear from parents constantly: the school says they aren’t comfortable handling gluten-free prep in the kitchen, or they aren’t sure they can accommodate a gluten-free lunch at all.
There is a free online program the school can use to educate its kitchen staff. It’s run by the John C. Stalker Institute of Food and Nutrition, a partnership between the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and Framingham State University. It’s based in Massachusetts, but Connecticut schools can still do the program, so don’t let the name make you think it’s Massachusetts-only. Parents can advocate for this and get the district on board, and it costs the school nothing. If you’ve been told “we can’t,” this is a concrete thing to bring to the next meeting. (For the paperwork side, my 504 vs. IHP post covers what to ask for and why.)
After the talk we stopped by the Boston Children’s Hospital booth and spoke with some great people there. They had a stack of handouts worth grabbing: practical ways to accommodate a gluten-free diet at school, a guide to eating gluten-free at school, and their gluten-free candy list, which you can get at bit.ly/CKCCandy. With Halloween a few weeks out, that last one is the handout I’d print.
The food trucks
This is the part I’d tell a newly diagnosed family about first. Outside there were several trucks, and every one of them was set up to serve gluten-free.
Fried Dough Nation. A sign on the truck said “all dough is gluten free,” and the whole menu was fried dough: the original with powdered or cinnamon sugar, Nutella versions, fried dough sticks, and a mini trio. We got the original with powdered sugar. Riley had been talking about it since we parked. Her review: “Oh wow, it’s so good.” We ate it while we stood in line for fried chicken because we didn’t want to wait, which I recognize is not a nutrition recommendation, but when the only time you can have something is once a year, it’s lunch.
Twin Beaks fried chicken was good. Being able to hand a ten-year-old a basket of tenders and fries from a truck without a fifteen-minute interview is not a thing that happens to us often.
The Fried Oreo and Churro Co. had fried Oreos. Yes, gluten-free fried Oreos.
Fresh-squeezed lemonade. Riley ordered the blueberry lemonade with cotton candy on top by herself, which is the actual point of coming to these: she gets to be a kid at a fair.
The Holy Donut from Maine had a chalkboard of gluten-free potato donuts (dark chocolate sea salt, toasted coconut, maple glazed, vanilla sprinkle, fresh lemon), several already crossed off by the time we got there. Go early.
What we brought home
I filmed the unpacking; the video is on our YouTube channel if you’d rather watch Riley explain it. The written version:
Annie’s Gluten Free Bakery, focaccia. This was my find of the day. If you’ve eaten at Burton’s Grill, you know the gluten-free focaccia they bring to the table. It turns out Annie’s is the bakery that makes it. I got to talk with the owner, who told me she eats it at Burton’s herself, and her serving advice was simple: warm it in the microwave and dip it in olive oil. If you’re freezing it, cut it first. I bought a stack.
Sweetness & Honey Bakery, macarons and a brownie. The macarons are Riley’s number one. A rainbow box of them, and she has been rationing them since. The brownie didn’t last as long.
A&J Bakery, gluten-free haunted house kit. A build-it-yourself Halloween house, gluten-free, which is something we’ve never been able to find in a store. Riley picked it out herself and it is her most anticipated item by a wide margin. Several things on their board were already sold out by early afternoon, which tells you something.
Happy Pop popcorn. The tomato basil is our favorite. Riley says it tastes like a margherita pizza, and she’s right.
2 Sugar Mamas, stuffed cookies. Peanut butter, chocolate chip, and cookies and cream. We got one of each.
Jovial pasta. The staple in our house, and the reason we always stop at their table: they tend to bring new products and samples to these expos, plus coupons.
Tommy’s Pickles. Half-sours and sweet heat. Both very good, and pickles at a gluten-free expo are a reminder that plenty of naturally gluten-free companies still show up to say so on the label.
SuperSoup. A variety of soup mixes, some vegan and dairy-free as well. They were sampling the stuffed pepper and lentil made with ground beef and it tasted exactly like a stuffed pepper. I bought a couple of packets for weeknights.
Lucky Pigeon Brewing Co., Oktoberfest. Lucky Pigeon is a dedicated gluten-free brewery in Biddeford, Maine. I thought the Oktoberfest was phenomenal, though I’ll admit I no longer remember what regular beer tastes like. The better data point is my husband, who is not gluten-free and said he liked it more than the Oktoberfest he normally buys.
The pierogies were sold out by the time we got there. The line was long all day, but we did get to try samples, and I will make sure we get there early next time. We also grabbed beef jerky samples and walked past a freeze-dried candy booth Riley has not stopped mentioning.
No Forkin’ Gluten was a fun stop: they run gluten-free cooking classes with Chef Dan Hurlbut, which is going on our list.
Sweet from Scratch was another one for the list. I spoke with the owner, who runs cookie decorating workshops that are 100% gluten-free and 100% dairy-free, for parties, private events, and fundraisers, all ages and skill levels. They had cookie decorating kits for sale at the booth and they looked great. Details are at sweetfromscratchbakery.com.
Celiac travel booths
Two tables had nothing to eat and were the most relevant to this site.
Push Pin Custom Tours and Travel has some exciting land-based celiac tours coming up. Gluten Free Tuscany runs September 30 to October 7, 2027, and they mentioned they’ll be announcing a 2028 Ireland tour, which we are very interested in. I get asked about land-based celiac tours regularly and there are very few, so I took their information. I haven’t traveled with them yet; consider this a lead, not a review.
Gluten Free & More. I spoke with Colin, the president, who had great information about the celiac cruises. They’re very popular and sell out quickly, as we discovered when we went on the waitlist for the 2027 Alaska cruise last month. I also signed up for the Gluten Free & More magazine, which is loaded with recipes, popular brands, educational articles, and more. I got through almost the entire issue last night; I couldn’t put it down.
Riley’s take
Asked for her favorites on the drive home, in order: the fried dough, then the haunted house, then the popcorn and the macarons. Asked what she’d tell another celiac kid about it: “I felt free here and like I belonged. There are other kids out there like me with celiac, and I ate so much without having to ask twenty questions every time.”
I don’t have anything to add to that.
Nurse’s note. An expo is one of the lower-stress food environments you’ll find, but it’s still a room full of open samples and busy hands. What I do: I read the facility sign at each table, I ask “is this made in a dedicated facility?” when the sign is the shared-facility one and it’s something Riley will eat a lot of, and I keep the fried-dough-and-lemonade portion of the day to one round. Vendor practices and menus change; confirm with each company before you rely on anything here. This is general education from one celiac family’s visit, not medical advice.
If you’re going to the next one
Get there early. A lot of the popular items at some booths were sold out by 2 pm, and the pierogi line was long all day.
Bring a cooler or a large bag. They give out Wicked Gluten Free bags at the door, but bread, pickles, and pasta add up, and the parking lot is a walk.
Do the food trucks early too. Lines outside were short before noon and long after. The dedicated-fryer trucks are the reason many families come.
Talk to the owners. Most of the small bakeries had the actual baker at the table. That’s how I found out about the Burton’s focaccia, and it’s how you find out where else their products are sold near you.
Sit in on a talk. The 504 talk alone was worth the ticket for us.
Bring cash and a card. Most tables took cards; a couple of the small ones preferred cash.
Kids do well here. There’s room to move, plenty of samples, seating upstairs, and nobody looks at you funny for asking questions. Riley spent part of the afternoon working the camera for me, which kept her busy between booths.
Upcoming dates
The same organizers run the NJ/NY Metro expo in Secaucus on November 7–8, 2026, and the Connecticut expo at Mohegan Sun on February 27, 2027. Dates, ticket links, and what to expect at each are on my fall expo roundup, which I’ll keep updated.
If you were at Fitchburg and found something I missed, tell me in the Celiac Safe Travel group and I’ll add it here.
Follow along. The haul video and the longer expo walkthrough are on our YouTube channel. Day-to-day photos and shorts are on Instagram, TikTok, our Facebook page, and X.
Safe travels,
Krystal, MSN, APRN, FNP-BC
Celiac Safe Travel
Information reflects our visit on September 19, 2026. Vendors, menus, and preparation practices change; verify directly with each business. Nothing here is medical advice or a guarantee that any product or venue is appropriate for you. See the full medical disclaimer. We paid for everything mentioned and have no paid relationship with any vendor named.
