I Miss the Wisconsin State Fair

I'm a child at heart when it comes to county or state fairs. I LOVE THEM! I love the animals, the vendors, the food, the music and the ambience. I could sit and watch sheep judging for hours. I love watching the 4H teens carefully grooming their animals and showing me their cots where they sleep with them at night. I love the pickles and jams and honey; the quilts and shawls and blankets; the cakes and pies and all the other goodies made by men, women, and children hoping for that blue ribbon. I could stand for hours watching the knife and food chopper demonstrations. I love counting the number of people carrying the latest "magic" mop. Oh, and I love the food. Well, some of the food. There isn't a food item one can imagine that isn't sold on a stick at the fair.

It should come as no surprise that we attended the Wisconsin State Fair the first summer we moved to the Milwaukee suburbs more than 20 years ago. It's a great fair and was held just last week. In Wisconsin, you might just as well say "cream puff" the minute you say "State Fair" because that's the first thing that comes to mind for most Wisconsinites.

The cream puffs were introduced in 1924 and have been a huge hit ever since. There is even a Cream Puff Pavillion! When neighbors learned we were going to the Fair for the first time, they immediately told us we HAD to try the cream puffs. And try them we did. I can tell you that it must be an acquired taste. The popovers were light and tasty, but the cream! Oh, the cream may look light and airy, but it's full of butter, cream and sugar and leaves an oily residue on your tongue. Did I mention it's messy?

I know I am definitely in the minority. During State Fair week, the Cream Puff Pavillion opens early in the morning so people can drive through and pick up dozens of them to take to work. No matter where you work, you will find at least one box (usually empty) in the break room. In 2008, there were 381,926 cream puffs sold at the 11-day run of the Fair.


Here's what a box of cream puffs looks like.

In the close-up you can see how much cream is in there.

And here's how to eat them. There's no other way.

[All the photographs above were taken from the State Fair Website.]

On a related note, Tom Barrett, the Mayor of Milwaukee attended the Wisconsin State Fair on Saturday with his family. He heard a woman's cry for help and observed a man threatening her. The mayor yelled for the man to stop and pulled out his phone to call "911." The man attacked Mayor Barrett, hitting him hard in the stomach and knocking him to the ground. The man told the mayor not to get up. The mayor came up and landed a hard punch. That's how he broke his hand. The mayor was no match for a man with a steel baton and was rather badly beaten, sustaining a skull fracture, losing four teeth, large lacerations on his face and arms and multiple fractures of his hand.

Mayor Barrett himself says he should not have tried to fight the man and should have remained on the ground. But you can bet the citizens of Milwaukee are proud of their mayor who defended this woman and her child.

Mayor Barrett at a news conference three days following the incident:

[Photograph by Gary Porter for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]


Within a day, these tee shirts were available for sale with a portion of the proceeds to go to a women's shelter.

[From Brew City News]

The citizens were impressed with their mayor for another reason. The incident happened while he and his family were walking the several blocks to their car. They appreciate that he didn't have priority parking. He drove around and found a space and walked like the rest of them.