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| The puff is sliced one at a time. 8/5/23 dwm |
The Cream Puff Pavilion is across Main Street from the DNR Exploratory Park. It's our third official stop of the morning, which means the building isn't crowded and there are few, if any, lines to contend with.
Before you reach the end of the building with the bakery and puff assembly line, there are booths with Kringle, chocolates, Dill pickles, and mixes. The good stuff starts with Grebe's bakery stand and a booth selling fresh milk and Cedar Crest ice cream.
The family finds a table where we can stand as I get in line to pay for the puffs then pick up the order at the end of the line. Early in the day there is rarely a line.
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| Adding cream. 8/5/23 dwm |
If the line is long, you get to watch the workers behind the glass. Where the puffs are baked the crew are dressed like bakers as they empty the ovens and prepare the puffs for finishing.
Inside the dairy room, workers wearing a lot more clothes add the cream, replace the top, and dust it with powdered sugar. They're perfect!
After fortifying ourselves with a fresh cream puff, it's on to the Expo Center, a huge building filled with aisle after aisle of things you didn't know you wanted or needed until you see the demonstration. I bought a athletic shoe cleaner last year after a demonstration. It works but I think I may have a lifetime supply.
My stop in the Expo building is where they sell official State Fair gear and purchase the current edition of the collector pin. From there I walk up and down the aisle avoided eye contact with some of the sharp-eyed sales people and the guys asking if I need new gutters. I don't, because we live in a condo.
After finishing the Expo Center maze, we find a place for lunch. For the first time in more than a decade I found a place to replace the old Shakey's pizza place where you could buy a reasonably priced 10" pizza. It's Pistol Pete's opposite the Grandstand and behind the Bank Five Nine stage which is where we sat while we enjoyed our lunch in half-filled amphitheater waiting for the next performance.
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| The 2023 Kids from Wisconsin. 8/5/23 dwm |
The Kids from Wisconsin celebrated their 55th season this year. I was 4 the first time I saw them. The Kids are high school students or recent graduates who sign, dance, and play music over the course of a Wisconsin summer around the state and 11-straight days at State Fair Park.
At the show we watched there was a large number of Kids alumni. You could see the pride on their faces as they talked about their time as a "Kid." The show combines pop hits, old standards, and numbers that showcase the band. It's high energy and abundant talent on stage twice a day.
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| Two Kids and the band. 8/5/23 dwm |
baked potatoes, steak, lamb, and honey. Dad used to buy a year's worth of honey from the State beekeepers selling their wares; we usually buy something but change what that is every year.
The rest of the day depends on the mood and what we want to see or experience before heading home. For many years, the draft horse show was what kept us, this year I returned to the Cream Puff building for a chocolate shake to go.
Our State Fair is a great state fair, the greatest fair in our state!
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| A cream puff 3-pack and the Sky Glider over Central Park with Wonderwheel in the back. dwm photos |
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