The 94th Annual Maui Fair this weekend was, by all accounts, as awesome, hot, dusty (but mostly awesome) as it has been for nearly a century. It’s an impressive feat to keep an event that is so bound by tradition both familiar and fresh.

But then, word started to spread about the Flying Saucers. As in, there weren’t any.

Not that there wasn’t plenty of other favorite fair food to enjoy, but Flying Saucers are part of the experience. Not the sort of thing that would ever be your Main Meal, but definitely a Round Two.

Flying Saucers are like Hot Pockets or Uncrustables, but old-school and hand-made, with a sloppy-Joe style hamburger mix inside two pieces of white bread. The sandwich is clamped between half-shell metal pieces, which gives it the circular “flying saucer” shape. The edges of the bread are cut off and the sandwich is toasted over a flame. They’re often sold in multiples because no one wants to stand in line for that long for just one dang circle sandwich.

(How long? Long, brah. When all your friends like ride Pharoah’s Fury or your kids like see the baby goats, standing in line even 20 minutes feels like forever. But worth it.)

The proprietors of the Flying Saucers at the fair have changed over the decades. During the ’80s, the booth was run as a fundraiser for the Baldwin High School speech and debate team. It was how we made money to take trips to Oahu to compete in tournaments. It was during those sweaty hours that I learned important life lessons: I am completely unable to count back change; chopping onions really does make you cry; and even grueling work can be fun when you’re with friends.

Our teacher doesn’t agree with my fond memories. “Pffht!” she said. I worked in that booth for four fairs. She did it for 27 years.

“There is no love in my relationship with these things. It’s all hate. Do you know that I have NEVER eaten one,” said Charlotte Boteilho, who was named Teacher of the Year at Baldwin three times and State Teacher of the Year in 1999. “Oh and for the record, both my kids loved them. They would be eating them while they were making them. Me? I was behind a building calling for Ralph or yelling at the ground,” she said.

This made me realize other Flying Saucer lessons: Like many students, I was oblivious to my teacher’s sacrifices; and even though she was hating it, she still made it super fun. Oh the strength it takes to be a great teacher.

Maui Meme Factory, the anonymous Facebook page that comes up with the best irreverent observations about Valley Island life, put up a solemn memorial to Maui Fair Flying Saucers – – #RIP 1922-2015, which drew sentiments of grief.

But there’s hope.

There have been reports of Flying Saucers at the Makawao Rodeo, a bon dance on Kauai and various small fundraising events.

The metal sandwich press is sold on Amazon and there are how-to videos on YouTube.

And there’s no reason they can’t reappear at the Maui Fair in the future — those greasy little meat pockets full of tradition, life lessons and figurative (probably not literal) blood, sweat and tears. It would make so many people happy. It would make me happy. Mrs. Boteilho, though, says, “Pffht!”

Reach Lee Cataluna at 529-4315 or lcataluna@staradvertiser.com.