Wisconsin

First of a four-fair trip. We stopped and saw Laurie & Steve and Nancy & Xhem in Indianapolis on the way. Spent two nights there, and also got to visit with Chris & Stephanie, and Ben & Shelby. We did a trolley tour of downtown Indianapolis, and ate at Dick’s Last Resort.

The Day of the fair started out overcast, but somewhat cleared up as the day went on. We arrived around 10AM and parked in someone’s yard for 2/3 the cost of official fair parking (I think that was a first to do bandit parking). On entry to the fair, our first stop was the Horse ‘Nayyy-borhood’. This was the closest they had for this date to a horse exhibit. It contained very nice paddocks with large draft horses. There were some mommas with babies. We also saw some full-size mules and some miniature mules/donkeys. The rabbit exhibit was actually a hopping contest. Four different courses of various hopping challenges. The rabbits were led on leashes through the courses and they did surprisingly well. We took in a Sea Lion show which was quite similar to others we have seen. It was good for a few laughs and a good rest from walking.

Since we hadn’t eaten yet, we went from there directly to the Cream Puff pavilion. This is a Wisconsin fair staple and it didn’t disappoint. They have a dedicated, enclosed building for this food and it is set up to service large queues of people. We got their early so there were no lines. The cream puff costs $4.50, and was easily enough to feed both of us. It was 6 inches across, and filled with a 2-inch thick dollop of fluffy sweet cream. We ate it with chocolate milk.

Another state favorite that we had to try was the Wisconsin baked potato. We got one with chili, sour cream, butter, and bacon bits. It was tasty and very filling. We also had some of the best roast corn on the cob we’ve ever had, and it was only $3.50 (perhaps because it was in Wisconsin?). Lisa bought some glazed pecans, and we got some 50-cent milk (root beer flavored and peanut butter chocolate flavored). Our last food indulgence was deep-fried chocolate chip cookie dough. This was new and different, but I think our timing was bad, as we didn’t enjoy it as much as we had hoped.

This fair checked most of the boxes, with exception to a horse show (which may have been a date problem), and harvested food display. Wisconsin holds a fall harvest show at the fairgrounds in September which probably encompasses this. There wasn’t as much in the way of agriculture or historical exhibits as we expected for this area.