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Wisconsin State Fair has seen changes over the years

Wisconsin’s 127th State Fair is underway, and there is one man who has attended 70% of them. 

Jerry Zimmerman has been the Wisconsin State Fair historian since 1996, and at 92, he’s seen traditions carry on and several changes. “We had railroad cars coming into the fairgrounds to deliver the cattle and then take them back. We had railroad entry on the far end. We had railroad entry on the south end.”

Now, the railroad tracks are gone. 

When Zimmerman was young, the State Fair had no refrigeration for the milk from the show animals. “At that time, us kids could get in free with a bottle or container to come down at milking time and carry fresh milk out of the park.”

Zimmerman has only missed two State Fairs in his lifetime… shortly after he was born in 1928 and when he was serving in the Navy during World War II.

Wisconsin State Fair Historian Jerry Zimmerman talks with Brownfield’s Larry Lee 8-1-2019
  • This is a great interview, Larry and quite an “historic” one at that. My dad passed away Dec. 20, 2020 so you are probably the last to have published his favorite memories. Thank you – and as Dadzim would have said….”see you at the Fair!”

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