Ari Viscarra, 23, and Sean Kim, 27, both of Madison, were in the third car in line. They waited on the Milwaukee Mile oval in Viscarra’s 2007 Volkswagen convertible Beetle and arrived nearly 90 minutes before the 4 p.m. opening. By 3:45 p.m., there were over 120 vehicles in their rear view mirror. Cookie dough, cheese curd tacos and corn dogs were among the foods they were eyeing up.
“A lot of people have cravings for a lot of the food and a lot of the things they like to come here and enjoy,” Kim told the Wisconsin State Journal. “It gets people out of the house and they can come and enjoy those things where (otherwise) they would have been locked down and kind of missing out. So, they get a little bit of that feel. And, it’s better than nothing.”
Thousands of people agree with Kim’s assessment.
The first outing from July 23-26 featured 11 vendors that drew in 12,000 vehicles filled with hungry fair food fans. Their purchases included 4,023 corn dogs, 4,440 sandwiches from the Wisconsin Pork Producers Association and 2,573 slices of dill pickle pizza from Rick’s Pizza.
The second weekend began Thursday, July 30, and wrapped up Sunday, Aug. 2, but the last weekend is Aug. 13-16. The last weekend will include 13 stops including the opening of the Original Cream Puff Pavilion, which will likely swell traffic to the park but to levels nowhere near a typical day at the State Fair.
