Harvest Fair will return for the 31st year from Friday, Sept. 27 until Sunday, Sept. 29, where they will serve up fall-themed entertainment, food and attractions.
It is located at the Wisconsin State Fair Park in West Allis and will feature autumnal-themed fare with local favorites like the classic cream puff.
“While the Original Cream Puff Pavilion and Bakery is closed for renovations, the Cream Puffs don’t stop,” said Paula Hare, director of Marketing.
This state fair favorite continues in a new fashion with build your own cream puff kits.
“[Customers] will fill their light, delicate, crunchy pastry shell with real dairy cream, whipped to perfection. The kits also include a small container of powdered sugar to gently dust the filled Cream Puffs for a sweet, festive finish,” Hare said.
The kits will be available for pickup in the Central Park located within the fairgrounds and will come with enough ingredients to make three cream puffs. Customers will get to pick between chocolate or pumpkin spice flavoring.
Food is only the tip of the iceberg during the fall festivities. The fest also offers unique activities like “Build your Own Scarecrow” which consists of picking jeans and a flannel shirt and filling your scarecrow with straw.
Tess A. Kirksen, director of PR for Wisconsin State Fair Park, said the event offers a new spin on bowling.
“I would recommend Pumpkin Bowling, presented by Universal Window Direct in Central Mall. You get to bowl with a mini pumpkin and then you can take that pumpkin home with you pumpkin bowling.”
Other activities include the carpet ride down the 200-foot Giant Slide. The slide is located on Second Street and Central Mall within the grounds and costs four tickets.
West of the Giant Slide are the pony rides, available for 12 tickets. There’s also a variety of amusement rides, for five tickets, available on South Grandstand Avenue.
For $1 dollar each, the Giant Slide, pony rides and amusement rides are all open until 9 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, and 6 p.m. on Sunday.
Besides the food and fall activities there is plenty of live entertainment available including racing animals, live bands and a particularly popular pick, the Paul Bunyan Lumberjack Show.
Myra LeCaptain of the Paul Bunyan Lumberjack Show, says the show has been performing since 1988 across five different continents, performing at Harvest Fair for the last five years.
“[It’s] an incredible national act featuring incredibly talented Lumberjacks and infused with funny antics and great humor,” Kirksen said.
The show lasts 25-30 minutes and features log rolling, wood chopping, axe throwing, crosscut sawing and a dragster chainsaw competition.
LeCaptain said that logrolling is a crowd favorite, especially when the lumberjacks fall in the water.
A few other honorable mentions go to Farmer’s Market which will be located on Grandstand Avenue and the local shopping that takes place in the Central Marketplace and throughout the fair grounds. Both shopping areas are open all day during the fair’s hours.
If you haven’t picked your pumpkin yet, make Craigland Farm’s pumpkin patch the last stop at the fair. Located within the grounds, the pumpkins will cost $5 each or two for $8.
Admission to this event is $5. More information on the event can be found on the Wisconsin State Fair website.
This story was written by Maeve Nolan. She can be reached at [email protected].
