Wisconsin State Fair

Online directions said it'd take me just over an hour but, as I'm finding fairly consistently, it took me closer to an hour and a half.  I've learned to add on half again to the time they estimate a drive will take, which is saving me from some unpleasant surprises at the end of the day.

Because I was driving the RV, the parking lot attendants sent me to the lot for oversize vehicles.  Oddly, mine was the only "oversize" vehicle there; I was one of the first in and all the others both before and after me were passenger cars.

The attendants directed me to the nearest gate, which turned out to be the vendors gate.  But everybody was very nice after I convinced them there was a reason I didn't have my vendors pass and helped me buy my ticket ($8 for seniors).  If I'd come on Monday as I'd vaguely planned, my ticket would have been free, courtesy of Kohl's.  But Monday's weather would have been too hot for the critters, and that's worth $8 to me.

As at most fairs, there's a permanent Exposition Center where the commercial vendors convince people to buy mops and cookwear and all kinds of things they didn't know they wanted and usually don't use when they get home.  (I skipped it.)

On the walls outside the Center I found these historical markers:

interesting, but oddly written

a bit of National Guard history

I first tried the exhibit hall showing the winners of various categories of talents.

Textiles

knitted items

woven items - the orange/grey piece should
have gotten more than 2nd place I think

amazing quilt

Other talents

cake decoration - there are
3 real cakes in this photo

bonsai

I'm sure I took notes about growing bonsais from my lengthy talk with the man in orange, but now I can't find them.  The tree next to him is more than 40 years old, and most others there are equally as old.

He explained some of the techniques to me - for instance, keeping them in small pots and trimming their roots instead of putting them in larger pots as they age, which encourages growth.  We concluded the plants must be happy enough because they were clearly so healthy - an unhappy plant never looks that good.

photography

My eye was drawn to the kitty, of course, and it took a bit for me to notice the other photos, which were all quite good.  But even now, I still think the kitty photo should have placed higher than a 2nd.  Clearly the judges had no idea how hard it can be to get a cat to stay still.  And this one is perfectly placed in the photo, and the light falls just right.  The cat's name is Wilma, according to the label.

the judges thought this was the winner -
very pretty but I liked others better

table-arranging talent?

Various Wisconsin products

baked potatoes were a hot item

pretzel bread is big

WI: world's largest cranberry producer

I'd never heard of baked cheese
but of course Wisconsin has it

I learned that cranberries don't self-pollinate; growers rent honeybees.

smart goat

dairy is big in America's Dairyland

this cow was seriously resisting being led

brown: Guernsey
black: Holstein

Ayreshire

Solid brown cows (not pictured) are Jerseys.

I talked to a very nice young woman (age about 18) who was waiting to show her cow, and she explained a little about the difference between breeds of cows: for instance, some have higher butter content in their milk, good for making cheese; some give more milk per pound than others.

And then there were the cream puffs

Really 7.5"?  Seems 7.5' makes more sense

a Guinness record-setter

Apparently, this state fair is famous for them, and some people come to the fair just for them.  They make them right there, behind glass windows for all to see.  So of course I bought one.  Lots of cream.  Quite good.

Other sights

I saw a toddler (barely able to toddle) wearing a t-shirt that read Mischief Managed.  (Harry Potter's influence starts very young.)

I saw deep-fried bacon-wrapped tater tots.  But they didn't have the bizarre food creations that the Texas State Fair has competitions for every year, so the tater tots was the only oddball one I saw.

But this being a state fair, I had to buy lunch from somebody, and I picked these sausage guys, figuring if they'd been around since the '30s they must be okay.

since 1932 - they must be good

wrong - almost no peppers, no condiments,
and the sausage was just meat with a few spices

What they had

the usual rides
funnel cakes
a lot of live entertainment, including Melissa Etheridge, the Isley Brothers, and Herman's Hermits, and someone a little off-key while I was there


What they didn't have

cotton candy?!
Footsie Wootsie!!  (for those unfortunate enough never to have encountered a Footsie Wootsie, it's a vibrating machine for tired feet, and it's Nirvana (not the band)):

It really does make you feel this good

I'm sure she needs this
with those heels

All state fairs are different, but I really expected much more emphasis on agriculture.  Both the Texas and Western Washington fairs have big ag displays of one kind or another, but Wisconsin had almost no agriculture besides dairy.  I finally found a building with a sign about vegetables, but it turned out to be the cattle barn (maybe the cows eat vegetables?).  Considering the amount of corn this state grows, not to mention other veggies I'm seeing at farmer's markets, I'd have thought they'd at least get a display the size of the cranberries (about 10'), but they didn't.  Table arranging but no veggies.  Very odd.

But I was glad I went.  I learned a lot and talked to some really nice people and enjoyed seeing what they had.