Wisconsin State Fair Exhibits The Best Foods, Products, Crafts, Art, and Animals Of Wisconsin!

"Have a cream puff for me!" was Katie's send-off as I left our Wisconsinmade office on Friday. Wisconsin cream puffs are perhaps THE signature item at the annual Wisconsin State Fair in Milwaukee. Lauren (8), Dave (5), Grandfather, and I easily found the cream puffs - they had their own pavilion. The purchase line was 50 people long, but moved fast in front of windows revealing smiling cream puff chefs sporting Holstein cow-patterned caps and squirting delicious white mounds of whipped cream on to sliced pastry puffs. We waved to them and they waved back, showing off their work. Every one was caught up in the excitement of this yearly Wisconsin tradition! 

Entering the huge Wisconsin Products Pavilion, we saw row after row of display booths showing off all the different kinds of foods Wisconsinites produce. We saw Wisconsin cranberries, cherries, honey, maple syrup, nuts, cheeses, ice cream, pizzas, sausages, meats, potatoes, candy, and more. Alice in Dairyland held center stage, quizzing her audience on which products came from which Wisconsin region.

In the Wisconsin Horticulture, Craft, and Culinary Pavilion we saw the fruits of Wisconsin hobbyists having fun. Amateurs pitted their talents against one another to compete for prizes in baking, cake decorating, gardening, sewing, quilting, leather-crafting, and wood-working. Truth be told, we saw nothing amateurish in their results. The creative ingenuity and skill demonstrated in each craft amazed us.

The competitions continued in the 6 livestock barns. Exotic and farm animals looked their best for the crowds and judges. Our family enjoyed the Rabbit and Poultry Palace. The children 'oohed' and 'aahed' over the velvety soft, cuddly rabbits. The exquisitely plumaged roosters, hens, turkeys, and doves impressed us too. The colorful patterns of feathers on these domestic birds made woodland birds look drab. So why do children's books feature poultry in such plain, solid colors? Let their illustrators go to the fair and they might depict animal characters in their true-life glory. These impressive animals were a tribute to Wisconsin breeders working with the myriad varieties of forms and colors nature offers.

And of course, we couldn't resist watching Wisconsinites play with their animals as well. No pig wrestling this time, but pig racing! And duck racing too! The crowd cheered for their favorites and rooted for the piglet swimming across the pool.   

As a parent, perhaps my favorite part was enjoying Lauren and Dave's reactions to the children's artwork, crafts, and mechanical inventions on display in the Exposition Center. "That is sooo cool!", they'd exclaim. "How did they make that?" "Look! The boy who built that was only 11!"

On outdoor stages, we saw children performing: dancing, singing, and playing musical instruments. Under a tent, we ate snacks, sipped sodas and beer, and watched children perform traditional Irish dances to celebrate Milwaukee's Irish heritage.

My kids saw children their age performing, creating, building, and producing products deserving of adult admiration. The lesson here was life isn't something you must be grown up to live. In fact, life won't wait. Opportunities to create and express abound. Children their age - our Wisconsin neighbors, are creating, building, expressing themselves NOW. The productive life has nothing to do with age. Age relates the future to the past. Living happens now.

We absorbed the Wisconsin State Fair for 7 hours and still didn't see everything. Too tired to be passively strapped into whirring, gravity-defying rides, we left just as night was falling and the fairgrounds were becoming crowded. What an adventure. And to think Wisconsin does this every year!

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Wisconsin foods aren't only eaten in Wisconsin. Folks everywhere can enjoy them. Here are some celebrities:

Bacon Wrapped Tenderloin Filets

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Wisconsin Smorgasbord Bakery Tower of Treats

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Wisconsin Maple and Honey Basket

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Berres Gourmet Coffee Collection

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Everything Cherry Gift Pack

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 Cherries Galore: A Door County Cherry Recipe Collection

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Click here for the Cherries Galore Door County cherry pie recipe.

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Receive $5.00 off any Wisconsinmade.com product by entering this offer code: FBLOG808 with your order. Offer expires September 1, 2008. 

Comments

[jMo]

Excellent post, excellent. I had been thinking of doing one on the State Fair too, but didn't make it, and you are saving me the effort.
That cream puff must be shared with all. I think I have to give you an honorable mention this week.