Reader Reaction: Which State Fair Food Were You Brave Enough to Try?
More than 375,000 cream puffs were purchased at the Wisconsin State Fair this year — were you one of those to buy one, or what other "unique" foods did you try?
The Wisconsin State Fair hit an attendance high that it hasn't surpassed in a decade.
The first Sunday of the fair, Aug. 5, attendance hit 127,833 people — which is the highest single-day attendance in more than a decade, according to a press release from organizers.
In all, 920,962 people visited the fair between Aug. 2 and Aug. 11, which is about 10,000 more people than last year.
Check out the prevailing purchases at the fair this year:
- The Wisconsin Bakers Association sold over 375,000 original cream puffs;
- Arctic Glacier supplied vendors with more than 561,000 pounds of ice;
- Catalano’s sold 44,365 lemonades;
- Real Wisconsin Cheese Grill sold 60,358 grilled cheese sandwiches from the inside the Wisconsin Products Pavilio;
- The Wisconsin Potato Growers served up 56,500 baked potatoes;
- and Fairgoers enjoyed over 31,000 Usinger’s Sausages.
In all, 57 new food options were offered at the fair, including:
- Deluxe Deep Fried Bacon Wrapped Cheddar Hot Dog On-a-Stick (Apollo Gyros)
- Fat Elvis On-a-Stick (Peanut Butter Cup in Banana Batter with Bacon) (Lakefront Brewery)
- Firecracker Chicken On-a-Stick (Mesquite Jalapeno Cornbread Batter-Fried Chicken On-a-Stick) (Machine Shed)
- Pork Donut (Sugared Bismark Stuffed with BBQ Pork) (Madison Sportservice)
- Beer Floats (Craft/Import Beer and Ice Cream) (Slim McGinn's Irish Pub, Slim McGinn's West and Lakefront Brew Pub & Eatery)
What did you try at the fair?
Tell us in the comments, and upload your photos to this article!
Lisa Sink
1:54 pm on Tuesday, August 14, 2012
Wish I had a beer float right now.
Lyssa Beyer
2:09 pm on Tuesday, August 14, 2012
Lisa, good call. I wonder if there is somewhere in the Milwaukee area where you can get those year-round. There HAS to be!
Bob McBride
6:58 am on Wednesday, August 15, 2012
I would think just about any restaurant with beer and and an ice cream machine could make one for you (never had one, but I assume that's the extent of the ingredients).
Sarah Millard
1:57 pm on Tuesday, August 14, 2012
I love State Fair too much!!! I didn't try anything new this year. Baked potato was amazing, as were the fried Oreos (so much goodness), cheesecake on a stick, smore on stick, fried Snickers, etc. Thankfully we go with a big group and everyone shares or you'd be rolling me down the streets of Waukesha....