It had been a long, long time since Rick Frenette enjoyed a cream puff at the Wisconsin State Fair.

Now, the Chippewa Falls native can enjoy all he wants after returning to Wisconsin in February to become executive director at Wisconsin State Fair Park.

A highly-respected industry veteran, Frenette is looking forward to the challenge of restoring the Wisconsin State Fair to its former glory as one of the best in the nation.

With the fair wrapping up its first weekend, Frenette sat down with OnMilwaukee.com to talk about his career, his roots, the Fair and its future -- as well as the future of State Fair Park, which includes the much-maligned Milwaukee Mile and Wisconsin Exposition Center.

OnMilwaukee.com: You're a Wisconsin boy, born and bred in Northern Wisconsin. Let's start off with a little bit of background. Tell us about yourself and how you ended up in this position.

Rick Frenette: My father was a part owner of the Northern Wisconsin State Fair, which was privately held at that time. He was kind of the lead manager of the fair, which is how I got my start in this business.

OMC: You probably didn't get to move right into management.

RF: Right. He owned concessions also, so I worked at the stands. I worked in his other businesses and helped him put on the fair. As I got older, I moved into a number of different jobs there and somewhere along the line, I had an opportunity to move into the position on a full-time basis and I took a position with the Minnesota State Fair. From there, I felt I wanted to be a manager of the fair and with my lack of seniority there, it wasn't going to happen in Minnesota. Ohio offered me the position and I went there for 11 years before going to Utah for six years.

OMC: What about the fair and event business was so appealing to you that you made a career of it?

RF: People always say that once you get the Fair in your blood. It's always hard. Whenever I've been a part of the fair, working from morning until late at night -- whether it's the stand, the midway or wherever -- it's the people, you see them have a little more excitement at a fair than you do at a festival because there's such an array of things to do. In our business, it's fascinating with the traveling carnival and the circus background. I always felt good coming home every night.

Working year-round at it made it even more fulfilling. That's part of it. You get to put the fair on but then you get to fix what you didn't do right the next time. It's different than a project in a major corporation where you go at it, hope it works and move on to another project. We know what our project is. We don't do it perfect every year but we can always attempt to do it.

OMC: Was it a conscious effort to come back to Wisconsin and what, aside from a sort of home town pride, made it an appealing job?

RF: When you go back in the history of the Wisconsin State Fair over the last 17 years since I became a manager, it's been an up-and-down, topsy-turvy type of situation. A lot has happened. Our industry is very visual and people share a lot of things so yeah, it was kind of a conscious decision. I said if I did get a chance to finish my career, I'd love to have a chance to go back and manage my home state's fair and see what I can bring.

The history of the State Fair before that 17-year period and its reputation in our industry, the managers here before that ... four of them are in our association's hall of fame. The fair has been very visible and prominent. I want this to again be one of those fairs that everybody looks up to. I'm not saying it's terrible or anything ... but I want people to talk about us again.

OMC: How did the lessons you learned in Minnesota, Ohio and Utah prepare you for the job you've taken here?

RF: Minnesota ... where I was the financial director ... was a fair that needed a little more attention to detail and accountability. In Ohio, those were definitely political lessons, not unlike the situation here. It was a very political atmosphere in a very political state.

The fair was held two miles from the State Capitol and the governor was very visible at the fair. There were some very political lessons to be learned there and I'm not going to lie, at the end, it became too political. There were some things that happened at the end that I don't like to talk about, but as always in a political world, sometimes it's time to go.

OMC: Utah presented its own challenges. Was it less of a political problem?

RF: Utah realized what I did in Ohio, where I took a negative and political mess and turned it into something positive. Utah was in a position where state leaders were trying to figure out what to do with the fair. A very envisioned chairman of the board saw that I was available and gave me a chance to turn things around. More than anything, I've learned that people sometimes have their own ideas and thoughts and you have to sell what you do and show that you're headed in the right direction for the business part of the fair, even if it's not the best political move.

OMC: You mention political similarities between Wisconsin and Ohio. Did politics, or the political environment in Wisconsin, play into your decision to come?

RF: As much as I wanted to be here, I did ask about the political climate was here. I didn't want to walk in here and then find out somebody has a different idea. To be at this level in the fair business, you have to handle politics.

OMC: There are some pretty big challenges facing State Fair Park. The fair has always been strong, but are the other factors causing a negative impact?

RF: I think the debt that's been put on the agency from improvements that were hoped to improve the revenue base haven't panned out. Those debts are going to be there if you have a bad year or bad weather and they may hold you back a little bit.

Some of the challenges are there because of decisions made in the past but we have to accept those and move forward. I think I think what holds back the fair, because of the debt put on and the lack of revenue to put money towards it is not being able to use that money in other areas. It's a challenge.

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