There’s something about county and state fairs that really strike a cord with me. Of course, there is all the food, most of it deep fried and none of it good for you, but it goes beyond that. In many ways, these fairs seem so “yesterday.” They seem to belong to a world long gone, where grandmas compete for blue ribbons with their pies and cakes, where young farmers parade their best livestock, and where carnies try to sucker unsuspecting passersby into parting with their hard earned cash for a chance to win some cheap, poorly made stuffed animal. It’s a place where salesmen still compete for crowds and where the art of hawking and barking is still alive and well.

This past week we headed down to Milwaukee (actually West Allis a Milwaukee suburb) to visit the Wisconsin State Fair and once again it did not disappoint. Wisconsin has deep roots as an agricultural state and the Wisconsin State Fair is all about showing off the best of its agricultural products. Of course, a good portion of the fair grounds are taken up with the livestock barns which are jammed packed with farmers and 4-Her’s all there to show off their best livestock, from cows, and pigs to ducks, chickens, rabbits and any other farm animal you can imagine. Dairy also takes center stage, Wisconsin still being one of the most important dairy and cheese making states in the country. Winning a blue ribbon at the Wisconsin State Fair is still considered an important award for many cheesemakers.

But let’s face it, this is a food blog and I am obessed with food, so I have to admit it, one of the best reasons to go to the State Fair is the food. Of course, all the fair standbys were there. Candy Apples, Cotton Candy, Elephant Ears, and Curly Fries were all there along with all the other foods you’d expect. While I love these items, when at outdoor events, this year I was on a mission to seek out the more audacious food items, specifically deep fried items and “food on a stick” and if the food was both deep fried and served on a stick, then bonus! The Wisconsin State Fair doesn’t disappoint on this account either as shown in some of the photos below.

The above picture shows a sign for the “Reuben on s Stick.”  As a big fan of Reubens I had no choice but to try it, especially as it met both qualifications of being both on a stick and deep fried!

Unfortunately, it didn’t quite live up to the hype.  It was basically a giant fried cheese stick with a few chunks of corned beef that was dipped in what was supposed to be a “rye” batter though I didn’t taste any rye.  While not bad, it wasn’t great.  It had to be better than the Chocolate Covered Bacon on a Stick that was also being served at the fair.  Now, I am a huge bacon fan, and lived by the motto, “Everything is better with bacon,” l0ng before it became a relatively popular catchphrase, but this just seems to be a waste of both good bacon and good chocolate.  I also didn’t get to try the Deep Fried Oreos though I really wanted to check them out.

One of the best buildings to check out is the Wisconsin Products Building.  There you can sample Maple Cotton Candy, made with Wisconsin maple syrup, buy honey products produced by Wisconsin honey bees, learn about Wisconsin’s large cranberry harvest or try a buffalo burger made from one of the many herds of buffalo that are raised here.

Of all the foods served at the fair though, the one that has become a Wisconsin State Fair tradition is the Cream Puff.

These things have been a fair tradition for over 84 years and no trip to the Wisconsin State Fair is complete without one.  In 2008 the state fair had an attendance of just over 800,000 people and served over 381,000 cream puffs.  To do this, they used over 15,000 pounds of flour, 600 gallons of milk, 250,000 large eggs and over 16,500 gallons of heavy cream.

While the 2009 Wisconsin State Fair ends today, 8/16/09, I encourage everyone living within a few hours driving distance to check it out next year.  It’s a fun time and you definitely won’t leave hungry.

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