Wisconsin State Fair officials announced today that the 2017 fair drew 1,028,049 visitors, marking the fifth straight year that attendance has exceeded 1 million people.
Last year, fair attendance was 1,015,815. In 2015, it was 1,033,053; 1,030,881 attended in 2014; and 1,012,552 came through the gates in 2013.
After some rain on day one, it sure seemed like the 2017 State Fair enjoyed some great weather.
Ready for some other fun fair facts?
The fair, which celebrated its 166th birthday this year, also marked 125 years at its current home.
Folks took almost 82,000 rides on the new WonderFair Wheel Ferris wheel, while 125,000 rear ends slid down the giant yellow slide, quite a few while I was feasting on potato pancakes at Cracovia next door.
Catalano’s squeezed more than 42,000 lemons to make that yummy lemonade, and Albanese’s Roadhouse sold just short of 10,000 spaghetti and meatballs mozzarella sticks, which, not coincidentally, was this year’s Sporkies champion.
But the number I know you really want is this one: 408,000. Rounded downward, that’s the number of cream puffs you ate and I know, Milwaukee, you’d do it again if you had the chance.
There were nearly 3,700 exhibitors at the pair, taking part in contests in art, agriculture, cooking, horticulture and more.
Number of grilled cheeses consumed by kids at the fair? They didn’t provide numbers but, anecdotally, I’d guess a ton.
Unexpected fact, again anecdotally: it appears the amount of frozen custard consumed at the fair is zero, which seems astonishing for the custard capital of the world.
Fun fact I learned at this year’s fair: if you order ice cream in the Wisconsin products pavilion, they’ll give you both cherries AND chocolate sauce. And all these years I thought you had to choose. You’re welcome.
Next year’s fair is slated for Aug. 2-12, so you’ve got time to work off those 408,000 cream puffs to make room for more.
Oh, Milwaukee Bucks, please bring the banana milk back to the Milk House. That is all.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
