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Wisconsin State Fair helps educate youth long before fair starts

The Wisconsin State Fair began Thursday, but the fair’s agricultural education efforts began long before the gates opened. 

State Fair CEO Shari Black tells Brownfield the fairgrounds and volunteers hosted Ag Discovery Day in May, where they hosted a thousand students from three Milwaukee schools. “They were able to learn about what type of bees we have here in Wisconsin and ways to take care of them. They were able to learn about goats. We also had a fiberglass goat that they could milk. We had a regular dairy cow that they could milk, so it was very hands-on.”

And Black says area FFA students, Dairy Promotion Committee volunteers, and area farmers volunteered to give the students a taste of life on a farm, and it was so successful, they’re planning to expand the program next year. “We’re looking at either offering multiple days or using more barns, but of course, then, we need more volunteers, so I think we might do the multiple-day situation.”

The fair also held a competition for schools to come up with an ag-related display for the State Fair, and the winning presentation is on soil health.