[excited chatter] [upbeat music]
[horse neighs] [goat bleats] [sheep baas]
– Jerry Apps: Now, coming into the fair as a kid, the sounds that I enjoyed…
[cow moos, rooster calls, chicken clucks] Oh, my gosh! I’m back home again with all of these sounds.
[cow moos] All those animal sounds were mixed with the sounds at the midway,
the sounds of the gasoline engines running the rides, and, of course, the sounds of people playing the games
and winning and losing. [Pac-Man “game over” sound effect]
As a kid, my early memories of fairs included
all kinds of smells– animal barns… [pig grunts] the smells of food cooking.
[sizzling] The sounds and the smells are forever embedded in my memory.
Those memories come back to me every time I visit a county fair.
[gentle acoustic guitar music]
– Announcer: Funding for Jerry Apps: Meet Us at the Fair is provided by the Wooden Nickel Fund,
Greg and Carol Griffin, Elizabeth Olson,
the Stanley J. Cottrill Fund, donors to the Focus Fund for Wisconsin Programs,
and Friends of PBS Wisconsin.
– Ticket Agent: There you go, thank you. Have a good one. Hello. – Jerry: Fairs are one of those institutions
that have become traditional. That’s not to suggest that they haven’t changed. The fact that they have changed
is one of the reasons that they continue. Fairs also brought people together from all over a county,
and sometimes it was only at the fair that they got to meet certain people.
And so, they looked forward to it, because they knew that Mable and John were going to be there with their kids.
So the fair had a lot going for them that wasn’t immediately obvious, but once you became acquainted with a fair,
you knew that it was gonna– It was attracting people and continues to.
– Sadie Goettl: I have visited roughly ten county fairs this year, and love every single one of them.
I think they’re important in communities to bring all of our agricultural communities together,
but also the people who aren’t as far in the ag community as other people, and just bringing people together
and celebrating a very Wisconsin tradition. – Donna Meier: It promotes community
between the rural segment of our county and the urban areas so people can come and see the people
that actually produce, you know, some of their food. – Guy Dutcher: To see what happens when wonderful people
all pull together and give of themselves and celebrate rural living and what we have to offer
in life here in central Waushara County. – Heidi Hensel-Buntrock: My sister would always say, as she goes from one end to the other,
it might take her two hours, which is probably only a two or three-minute walk, but you end up connecting
with people who you have not seen for the last year.
[gentle acoustic guitar music]
[birds chirp] – The idea of a fair, which was a religious institution,
as well as a place for businesspeople to sell their wares, it moved to northern Europe, where it morphed
into an agricultural fair as well as business and religion.
Those northern Europeans who came to this country in droves
brought with them the idea of a fair.
So the very first fair in the United States was in 1807,
when Elkanah Watson of Pittsfield, Massachusetts displayed his two Merino sheep in the town square.
Can you believe the first fair included two sheep, period?
That was it! [sheep baas] Nobody had seen a Merino sheep before, apparently.
And so, they all came to see these two sheep. [“Call to Post” playing] – Race Announcer: And they are…
– Jerry: And that’s characteristic of a fair. People often will come to the fair. They go, “I’ve never seen that before.
“I just saw that advertised. I’m going to come and see that.” – Race Announcer: Come on down… [crowd cheering]
– Jerry: In Wisconsin, the very first fair was in Waukesha in 1842, and it had cattle, horses, sheep, hogs,
and a plowing contest. [harnesses rattle] These early fairs only had men participating as exhibitors.
Women were not allowed, and that didn’t happen until 1884.
Let’s invite women to bring the domestic products
associated with farm women. And then somewhat later, somebody said, “Well, you know,
maybe the kids have something to share here as well.”
[bright acoustic guitar music] The whole idea was to prepare kids to be better farmers
and to prepare girls to be better farm women. Farmers learned about how to integrate crops grown
along with the animals that they had. And that’s where the fair took that little bit of a twist
beyond just production agriculture, realizing that farming is a way of life
and to make that life better, here are some things that you might consider.
[mellow acoustic music]
[chickens cluck] [cow moos]
The fair was sort of the pinnacle of the year, always, for the 4-H members
because they got to show their calves. It’s very interesting because it’s hard to put into words
the kind of relationship that develops between an animal and a person,
when you are preparing it for the county fair, for example. It doesn’t matter if it’s a hog or a beef animal,
but especially those animals that were taught to lead, you develop a very special relationship.
They come to respect you, you come to respect them.
[cows moo] – Aubrey’Anna Sims: I’m showing my steer. His name’s Teddy, and I’ve been working with him about a year.
I teach him not to kick it when I touch his feet with a show stick.
For him to move his feet, for him to walk, for him to not, like, kick people or anything,
those are some of the things I have to teach him. And he’s really fun to work with.
– Dale Meyer: Since I was about eight years old, I started in 4-H at age nine.
I had Guernsey cattle, and I showed here at the barn, and you got to pick out the best cattle in the herd.
If you’re gonna bring a calf to the fair, you better lead it a few weeks before the fair so that it gets to know how to be led.
As most calves are stubborn, well, you gotta work with the cattle. [sheep baa]
– Jonathan Kraker: In the last two years, I’ve started to show animals. I’ve really enjoyed that and learned a lot. Like, this year, I showed sheep for the first time.
[sheep baas] I bought them in May, and so, I had to go pick them out, pick a really nice lamb out.
I started working with them every day pretty much right from the beginning. You start by halter breaking them, walking them,
and getting them to brace. Getting them ready for fair was fun. It was a great learning experience. I had a great mentor.
I was really happy how I did this year. For my first year, I felt pretty good about how I did. [cow moos]
– Jerry: When I was 11 years old, I was in 4-H and showing cattle at the fair. I first had to select a calf,
and I talked this over with my dad because he’d had this experience, showing at the fair previously.
He said, “You know what, Jerry? Why don’t you select this little bull calf?”
It was born during a huge snowstorm. I named him Stormy.
And so, as soon as the little calf was, I don’t know, a month or two old, I began– It was my dad’s instruction.
“You need to teach little Stormy how to lead.” Now, Stormy was the most bullheaded bull you’d ever met.
He did not want to learn how to lead. He did not want to learn how to do anything. He had his mind made up that
he was gonna do what he wanted to do, and most of the time, he did that. Now, I’m just a little shaver and I’m saying to my dad,
“This calf is not going to learn how to lead. “Well, I’m gonna quit doing this. I’m gonna drop out.”
He says, “Come on, now, be patient. It just takes patience when you’re working with an animal.”
And so, I kept at it. So, I’m now slowly, oh, ever so slowly,
he’s learning how to lead. By the time July rolled around and we’re getting ready for the fair,
I mean, he’s a big animal now, but he has learned how to lead. And so, now I’m at the Waushara County Fair.
When I arrive early at the barn, I check to make sure that Stormy has water and has feed.
I would brush him down so there was not a speck of dirt on him anywhere. And Stormy, he’s as nervous as I am.
I tied him up in the stall at the fair. And I said, “Stormy, it’s going to be all right.”
Why would I say such a dumb thing to this animal that gave me all this grief? But we’d now developed this relationship.
And the next day or in the show ring are all these other bulls,
and they’re all kind of acting up and jumping around and doing this and that and the other thing. And my little Stormy is behaving himself.
And so, I get a blue ribbon. So that first year working with Stormy, I will never forget.
I learned so much. But what you are learning is patience,
and you are learning how to relate to an animal in a very special way, and then, I suspect, joy,
just the wonderful feeling of, “We did it together,
Stormy and I.” There’s joy into that.
– Charles Brewer: We showed at the Walworth County Fair years ago, and we showed Guernsey cattle.
And then when we had kids old enough, then they started showing calves at the fair. They’d spend hours walking ’em around the yard
and then washing ’em and then clipping ’em, and, you know, all of that thing. It was a lot of work. [hose sprays]
Both my son and daughter working animals. They respect how to treat ’em.
They did it ’cause they knew it was the better way of doing it.
[upbeat bluegrass music]
– David Laatsch: A county fair is all about learning and the process of learning one-on-one with the student
because face-to-face judging is critical in our area.
Typically, you’re invited to judge a fair for two years, and then you get a couple years off
and you come back, and you see those same kids and how much they’ve grown in those years since you first met them.
And it’s very rewarding to be able to see the growth from one year to the next.
I’ve been raising poultry all my life, and then I started judging at various county fairs
across the state. [chicken clucks] – Makenzie Milestone: I have 17 birds here at the fair today.
[chickens cluck] When I show it, we bring them up to the judge,
and the judge places them in a line of first to last on who he thinks is
the best of the category. – David: We judge the birds according to the standard of perfection,
which is established by the American Poultry Association, and in doing so, every bird is evaluated
on its point value. – If you are a champion, which means, like, you’re the best.
Reserve champion is, like, you’re the second best. – David: And then when it comes down to picking the champions, it’s always a small difference
between the top bird and the rest of the birds that you’ve picked out for your champion prize.
– Makenzie: I’ve gotten a couple of reserve champions for poultry today. I actually got three champions and two reserve.
– David: To me, that is as exciting as judging a steer show
and having the grand champion steer or the grand champion dairy animal.
And that’s because to me, that project is as important to that youth
as it is if it was the champion dairy cow in the dairy show. – I feel so excited and proud of my work.
– When I became an extension agent in ’57, working at the Green Lake County Fair, the extension agents were often selected
depending on their training and background to be fair judges, and I was one. My specialty happened to be beef, sheep, and hogs.
And people look at me now. “You mean you judged beef, sheep, and hogs?” Well, that’s what I did for 10 years.
– Judge: To be completely honest, he’s a little… – Jerry: Being a judge is a very interesting job,
especially when you’re judging animals, as I did. And it’s so fun to see the reactions of kids
letting their emotions show you how they accepted your judgment.
– Judge: First off, my compliments to you. You’ve done an absolutely outstanding job.
[gentle acoustic music]
[steer moos] – My dad, who, when he was in his 20s and newly married,
showed at the Waushara County Fair. And I asked him one time–
I interviewed him when he was in his 80s. “Well, why did you go to the fair?” He said, “Well, I had a chance
“to compare my cattle with Joe’s cattle, “but I also had a chance
to meet farmers that I only saw once a year.” And he said it was the most wonderful thing in the world.
I said, “Where did you sleep?” “Well, I slept on a load of hay I brought along to feed the cows.”
So he said, “I loved it.” And I said, “Gee, that sounds kind of primitive.” “It wasn’t,” he said, “because I had all these farmers,
“I only saw most of them once a year, “and we just had more stories to tell each other
“than you could imagine, “and we had this great competition. “Now, is my cow better than your cow?
“Oh, who knows? Well, we’re gonna have ’em judged.” He just thought that stuff was fantastic. Along the way, he was learning how to breed better dairy cattle
without realizing it, because he would see what this other farmer was doing. And, “What bulls have you used to be specific in your herd?”
“Oh, I’ll tell you.” So it got to be his university, so to speak.
It’s how he learned to improve his dairy herd. He couldn’t speak enough about it, how wonderful it was.
Why do we need a fair anymore? [gentle music]
It’s a place for those who know little about where their food comes from,
to learn about it without realizing they are learning it. It’s all very subtle
and with entertainment as a part of it.
[gentle music]
Fairs go way beyond just something for farmers.
[cow moos] Fairs are one way of helping bring rural and urban America together.
It happens automatically. That’s the natural way of coming together,
and fairs allow for that. [children speaking excitedly]
Hi, I’m Jon Miskowski, director of PBS Wisconsin and so happy to share this show with you. I’ve
been in the works for quite a while and to get Jerry’s memories and other folks
memories of this wonderful tradition of fairs all over Wisconsin. I think all of us
have these wonderful memories, wonderful experiences, and Jerry is kind of leading us through
that history of the fair. And that experience. And this is just a really wonderful
memories. And also an opportunity, as Jerry likes to do, is share stories. So he has
written a book, Meet Me on the midway, which is really the inspiration for this program.
We’ll talk a little bit more about how you can support PBS Wisconsin have a chance to
receive this book and learn more about fairs in Wisconsin, including fairs, and no doubt in
your area. This is easy to become a member and support with your phone call at
(800) 236-3636. Thanks, John. That’s right. And when. >> You do call and pledge your gift of support to one of our
great volunteers who’s waiting for your phone call right now at one (800) 236-3636. We’ve got a number of great thank you gifts
that will help you share those fair memories and share the memories that you’re creating this evening with this wonderful
program, starting at the $10 a month level, we will send you your choice. Either the program DVD of the show that you’re
watching tonight. Jerry at Jerry Apps. Meet us at the fair, or Jerry’s book, Meet Me on the midway, which John was just
referencing, which is the history of fairs here in Wisconsin from all over the state. That’s at the $10 level.
And like we said, your choice. Now, that’s a tough choice to make. So if you can’t make the choice at the $15 level will
send you the DVD and the book that’s at the $15 a month sustaining level. And then at
the $25 a month level, we’ve got what I like to call a fairly big
Jerry Apps collection. You get seven of our great Jerry Apps DVDs, all of the programs that
he has created with us over the past decade here on PBS Wisconsin. You get the Meet Me
on the midway book, and you also get the old Farm Country Cookbook, which Jerry and his daughter Susan wrote a couple of
years ago, and which there’s a program based on that as well. So why don’t you call right now, pledge your support. Let us know
how much you appreciate these great programs with Jerry, these great memories. One (800) 236-3636.
>> Hi. I’m Aimee Granger I’m a member of the staff here at PBS Wisconsin. I’ve had the very special experience of getting to
enjoy Jerry’s programs with audiences all around the state. And the most special part of
that is to see the smiles as people have their own memories of being part of the fair. Attending the fair, being part
of Four-h, and all of the experiences that we’re seeing on the program, which is just so
lovely. And so it’s programs like this that are so meaningfu, and there’s really nothing like
Jerry Apps. So if this really touches your heart or sparks a great memory and you want to support programs like this on
PBS Wisconsin, please feel free to give us a call at one
(800) 236-3636, become a sustainer and pledge your support. >> Well, thanks for your call to
(800) 236-3636. I had a chance a couple weeks ago to sit down with Jerry to talk about his
inspiration for this book, so stay with us, give us a call, listen to Jerry right now. What
was the inspiration for this book? >> Well, somehow I’ve wanted to write this book for a long time
because I remember way back when I was probably three years old, my dad, who always loved fairs
and he showed cattle at fairs way back in the 1920s. And he
dragged me off to the Witscher County Fair and to make it feel better for me. He bought me a
chocolate candy bar, and it was in the 80s at least, that hot.
And I’m standing holding my dad’s hand with one, and the other one had this this
chocolate bar, and it’s melting. And I said, what am I doing here? But I didn’t say anything
because my dad said, now you want to watch those cattle going in and I didn’t want to watch these cattle. I wanted to get in
the shade someplace. So that first memory was not the greatest memory.
>> Fine. You are on. >> Thanks. When you pledge your call right now, one
(800) 236-3636, you can get that book that Jerry was talking about. His inspiration for writing. That’s Meet Me on the midway, A History of Wisconsin’s
Fairs. Great, great trip through all of the history of county
fairs and the state fair here in Wisconsin, and the wonderful memories that you’re enjoying in this program tonight, and that
you can get that at the $10 level, or you get your choice. If you’d rather get the DVD of
the program that you’re watching this evening. Jerry Apps meet us at the fair. That’s also at the $10 a month level. And if you
can’t decide, because who could decide between those two great thank you gifts at the $15 a month level? We’ll send you both
the book and the DVD that’s at the $15 a month sustaining level at one (800) 236-3636, if you’d like, at the $25 level and
you’re a Jerry Apps super fan, we’ve got a great collection of seven Jerry Apps DVDs, all of
the programs that he’s worked with us here on PBS Wisconsin to make memories of his own
family’s food and memories. Life on the farm, life in the one room schoolhouse, all of the
great Jerry Apps programs that you’ve come to love. You get the book as well. Meet me at the On
the Midway and the Old Farm Country Cookbook. That’s at the $20 a month level. And of course, at any of these levels,
we’ll also send you a subscription to “Airwaves” magazine so you never miss the next great program. Like this. The next great local program
that you’re pledging your support for tonight at one (800) 236-3636.
>> That’s right. It’s nice to hear the phones ringing. And our wonderful volunteers in the studio helping out this evening.
They’re great to talk to. Feel free to give them a call. Or you can go online at
pbswisconsin.org and pledge your support of any level as a sustainer, as a one time gift, there’s lots of ways to give and
show your support. And like Eric said, “Airwaves” magazine, every single month you can find all
your favorite programs, don’t miss anything, and there’s also interviews, behind the scenes
information, all the ways that PBS Wisconsin engages with the community. When you give us a
call, one (800) 236-3636. >> We want to also thank the Wisconsin Historical Society
Press, our partners in this program and the publishers of this wonderful book by Jerry
Apps. Here’s Jerry talking a little bit about why these fairs continue to be important.
>> The little kids from the city, they get to see a little lamb and a pet, a lamb, and they
see a cow and they see a goose or a turkey and say, what is
that anyway? It has a marvelous purpose today. So when you say
to me, well, you’re talking about something that’s historical and it’s kind of interesting, but it’s going
away. It’s not it should not go away. It has a very important place in our society. No matter
if you live in Madison, Wisconsin, Chicago, Illinois, or wild Rose, Wisconsin.
>> So great to hear Jerry again and this wonderful show. An experience that so many of us
share. For me, it was the central Wisconsin Fair. I have maybe I have a chance to talk
about this later, but my greatest day of my life as a boy, that in fact, I was
remembering that I shared it at my parents 60th wedding anniversary party, which I think
tells a lot about my parents, but it just a reminder of what a magical place those fairs are
all over the state, and then we want to also acknowledge the people who put the work in. And
this show really celebrates that. When you pledge, you support public television, that
community spirit that we engender every day, the phone number to call is
(800) 236-3636. >> We’re about to go back to the program, but there’s still time for you to call and get those
great thank you gifts. One (800) 236-3636 is the number at the $10 level. Just a quick reminder at the $10 monthly
level, we’ll send you Jerry’s book. Meet me on the midway, which is the basis for this
program, or your choice of the DVD. If you can’t choose between the DVD or the book, give it the $15 a month level and we’ll send
you that. And then, of course, at the $25 a month level, we’ve got the great package of seven Jerry Apps DVDs and the two
books, Meet Me on the Midway and Old Farm Country Cookbook. We’re about to go back to the program.
Our volunteers, they’ll want to hear from you. So won’t you call one (800) 236-3636 is the number
to call. Pledge your support. You can also go online at pbswisconsin.org.
[MUSIC] >[upbeat acoustic guitar music]
What makes a fair a fair? The exhibits. People who bring their cattle, they bring their woodworking,
their canning and cooking and all that. So, it’s the judging, learning. The educational component of the fair is still there.
Fairs in the upper Midwest run generally from early July until September,
and it reflects the harvest time, when the crops are ready to harvest,
so that those exhibits then can be brought to the fair because they are ready.
The implement dealers would be at the fair, showing off their new equipment,
and, of course, the entertainment dimension. And not to forget… [child shrieks]
…the rides, the midway, the foods. All of those are essential components of a fair.
And each one in its own way attracts people. So, the fairs do a lot of different things.
[kids cheer and yell]
[jaunty music]
– Film Narrator: A fair reflects the products and activities of the region. Local people take pride in their grounds.
– Jerry: Over the years, the challenges that fairs face reflect the challenges that the society in general was facing.
For instance, during the Depression years. It was a tough time for everybody.
Farm prices were terrible, people were unemployed, so they didn’t have any money to come to fairs
and that sort of thing. So that was a problem. And World War II, of course, sucked away
all of the young men to war, many of ’em, anyway. And then, of course, right after World War II was polio.
Polio was everywhere. Especially here in Wisconsin from ’45-’55,
thousands of young men and women had polio. And fairs suffered because some of ’em just shut down.
“We can’t operate with this.” And then more recently, we’re all aware of COVID and how it shut down everything.
Individual fairs, of course, suffered from fires, tornadoes, bad weather.
If your fair has run three days and every day it rains, you’re going to suffer
because the crowds are not going to be there. By and large, the fair, as the years passed
and as they’ve faced the challenges, they’ve survived. It makes for a fascinating history.
[bright acoustic guitar music]
A fair is really built on volunteers. The volunteers do everything from parking cars
to helping with the judging, from running the food tents to helping kids get to their dormitory,
if there’s a dormitory at the fairgrounds. – Attendee: Thank you so much. – Jerry: Volunteers were at the gate selling tickets.
Most of the volunteers just love what they’re doing, too. They have just a whale of a good time.
– Barbara George: Because we’ve been involved here for so long, you know the grandparents and the parents
of these young kids that come up. And I really enjoy talking to the people.
The whole fair runs on volunteers. It’s great fun, and I think we feel good about giving back to the community.
– County fair is the focus of the entire summer
for a community, particularly our agricultural community.
Whether it’s recreation, entertainment,
it’s all of those things that happen at the county fair. [crowd cheers]
And it’s all put on by, for the most part, volunteers, who really love their community, love the kids,
love the activities of a fair and do it because they remember what it was like for them
as a kid going to the fair. [polka music] – Charles: You know, and then you get to catch up
on their families. And being small like this, it kind of helps keep the community together.
[indistinct conversation] – Guy: We call it our fair family, and there are probably well north of 100 folks
who compose our fair family that all come together, that put this on, and that’s what makes it special.
[gentle acoustic guitar music]
– Jerry: When I was 12 years old and in 4-H, and I always loved forestry. And one of the exhibits at the fair was
to collect 20 different little pieces of wood representing 20 different kinds of trees.
That’s how I learned to identify a red pine, a white pine, a black oak, and so on.
Twenty different ones. Hang those things on a board, and that became your exhibit at the fair.
– I did some projects, I did pictures, sewing. – Painting. – Woodworking.
– Flowers and houseplants. – Recycling, knitting. – Photography. – Crocheting. – Crops. – Cake decorating!
– Gracelynn Schultz: Tomato, jelly, and a whole bunch more. It’s hard to name ’em all.
– Mazi Dossa: This is my first year. I did pretty good, I’m not even gonna lie. I didn’t know what to expect, so, I thought it was pretty fun.
My friend Mary influenced me because she was like, “It’s so fun, you should do it!” So I was like, “Okay, I guess I’ll try it.”
I’ve been going to the fair for, like, ever, and I’d see all these projects, I’m like, “Oh, my gosh. Wish I could do that, but, like, I don’t know how.”
So, I was like, “Why not do it myself?” So, I did a watercolor painting of a whole bunch of popsicles ’cause it looked pretty cool,
and then I did a painting of flowers. I think I got first place in all of ’em except one of ’em,
but that’s okay, because I know my mistakes and I can change it for next year.
– Leah Rivera: I like that I can do what projects I want. I can choose what projects I can do, and I can do ’em how I would like to do it.
Well, I have made a vegan strawberry pie, and then I got a Grand Champion on it. And then I have Clothing Review.
I made a skirt and a shirt. The fabric is from Mexico, and I’m making that because I’m part Mexican.
My dad’s from Mexico, so I decided to, for this year, I’m gonna do where I come from.
– Sadie: You know, I love seeing all the hard work the kids put into all of their projects. They truly are the backbone of the county fairs,
and I love seeing all their hard work pay off and what they do. – Jerry: One of the purposes of the fair,
which has been true for many decades, it’s an educational event.
It allows people, youngsters and oldsters alike, to see how what they have made stacks up
with what somebody else has done.
– Bill Deppe: I’ve entered something in the fair every year. After I got out of 4-H, I started entering in open class, and I just enjoy
the little bit of a competition it is, and just to see how my stuff will do compared to everybody else’s across the county.
I brought some crops, and I got a third and a fourth on that. And then my wife brought some zucchini bread
and some blueberry rhubarb bread, and she got blue on both of those. She was flying pretty high yesterday, so…
– Eunice Yanke: I’ve seen a lot of changes in the number of articles that come in, and the exhibitors have aged.
We have got some nice elderly exhibitors, but I had fun this year.
My dinner rolls are champion of the open class baking department.
The judge was so cute, and she wanted to eat one of the dinner rolls. I said, “Well, take it.”
“No, no, I can’t do it,” she said. – Jerry: As society has changed, the kind of exhibits has changed.
When I was first in 4-H, there was no such thing as a photography exhibit, for example.
Well, soon there was. And there was no such thing as a computer-related exhibit.
Well, today, there are such things. So the exhibits have changed as society has changed.
– Forrest Boocher: I entered, like, just like woodworking. It is a U.S. quarter map,
but each state is its own state wood. What I learned– how to be perseverant
through my projects and to be flexible, which is kind of hard with me. [laughs] I just enjoy showing projects and all, like, the friendships.
I’ve had a lot of memories at this show.
– Gwendolyn Mahoney: I am showing flowers and houseplants, cultural art, photography, cake decorating, home environment.
I have a project in communications this year and self-determined, and then I also have swine and natural sciences.
And then I’m superintendent of flowers and houseplants and I’m chairperson of knitting and crocheting. I’ve been in 4-H for 10 years.
I just did the math this morning. And I enjoy 4-H because it gives kids opportunities
to demonstrate what they’ve been working on all year. Oftentimes kids make projects, yes, for their parents and for different friends and stuff,
but they don’t get a chance to display it in public and show everyone what they’ve been working on and putting all their energy into, and there’s many
different areas that you can do things in. So you can do everything from indoor archery to animals.
If you like to do woodworking, you can do that. So there’s areas for everything, which makes it open to anyone.
– What’s that called when they get an injury on the bottom of their foot? – Barbara: And these kids learn so much here.
It’s just a great way for them to exhibit what they’ve done all year long and get a little bit of recognition,
and I love to see the smiles when these kids come and we quiz ’em a little bit about what they’re doing here. The smiles are so big.
It just melts my heart. – Jerry: When I would judge whatever it was I was doing,
I would take time to explain why I was making the decisions I was making,
no matter if it was photography or garden produce or an animal. That’s part of the educational dimension
to the fair is the judge becomes a teacher of sorts.
Not only is he or she responsible for selecting quality over less quality,
but needs to be able to explain why. You just don’t do it because, well, that’s the way it is.
You can’t answer that way. You’re required to explain in some depth
what we’re looking for. What is a quality beef animal?
What’s a quality cucumber? What’s a quality green bean? That sounds silly,
but that’s one of the requirements of a judge. I was judging vegetables at a fair.
I don’t know, maybe it was the Adams County Fair, I don’t know which one it was, and I’m judging this cabbage, it’s a beautiful cabbage,
and I tipped the cabbage over on the stem. It says, “29,” which means this kid bought this cabbage
at the grocery store. [laughs] And so, I had to reject it
because it’s, he didn’t grow it, obviously. That did not go over well with the parents either,
but they knew that they had been caught. So they really didn’t say very much. But the kid really caught it because you just don’t do that.
That’s one of the things that’s learned the hard way. The judge pointing out to this youngster,
cheating is not a part of what we do. Gotta be honest.
[gentle acoustic guitar music]
And it was in 1914 that the federal government passed a law
called the Smith-Lever Act, and that created Cooperative Extension, and Cooperative Extension
provided funds to states and counties for 4-H,
agriculture, and family living. The federal government realized that it was necessary
for agriculture to continue to improve, and that’s why they passed that law.
The Smith-Hughes Act was adopted in 1917,
and it provided funds to the high schools of the nation to provide agricultural and other kinds
of vocational education. That was the beginning of the Future Farmers of America.
They grew out of that high school agriculture. They, the FFA, also were prominently involved in fairs.
And we shouldn’t forget that. – Carolyn Meyer: I joined 4-H when I was about 10 years old.
I’m the oldest of five children. We were a farm family. 4-H was our social activity, and so,
the fair was a really big deal. One of the projects that I did was sewing.
It was the first time learning how to use a sewing machine and even threading needles, you know, something really basic, and 4-H was my first experience
with public speaking. Being a shy kid, that was a big step.
If it wasn’t for 4-H, I don’t think there would be county fairs.
– I’m in the Waunakee Whirlwinds Club, and this is my second year in 4-H.
I like how interactive it is. I just like being around my friends.
I love making new friends and I’ve done that here, and it’s really fun. – I’m in the Kegonsa Hustlers 4-H club.
This is my fifth year. I like that there’s so many opportunities to do everything. So I get to show at the fair.
There’s so many community service opportunities too. There’s lots of new friends. We meet so many people.
– I was a summer 4-H agent back in 1972, and my husband was a very young fair board member.
So we met working at this fair. One of the life skills that 4-H teaches
is making new friends, and these are lifelong friends. There are so many people that come
that I only see at the fair. – Mary Arndt: We call ’em fair friends. [sheep baa]
– I started 4-H, like, when I was in kindergarten, like the first moment, then I started.
My sister was already in it, and then they brought me in. This is, like, a great opportunity for me.
I’ve grown my friendships a whole lot, and we can really bond together with each other.
– Bill: When I come here to the fair now, I see so many people that I’ve met over the years and through 4-H
and it’s just been– it’s been a great experience. I just enjoy working with the kids and watching them grow
from these shy, little kids to these confident young men and young women, and when they invite me
to a graduation party or their wedding, or they’ll send me a card, you know,
that’s what keeps me coming back. Sorry, I’m getting a little emotional, but this is very important to me.
– Jerry: In 1946, right after the war ended,
and my dad knew the county agent in Wautoma, and he had said to the county agricultural agent,
“You know, we ought to start a 4-H club out in our school district.” And so, all of the kids in our one-room country school,
we all got together one evening, and he’s up in the front now and he’s telling us about 4-H.
And I knew a little bit about it because I attended the fair along the way,
but I wanted, oh, I thought it would be so wonderful to be a 4-H member, because now I could
take a calf to the fair. And I could be one of those who led the calf in a circle,
and I could stay overnight, for heaven’s sakes. Well, I didn’t know where in the world we were gonna stay overnight.
As it turned out, we bought an old, used army tent, and we stayed in this old tent.
I was a 4-H member for 10 years, and I remember– I remember that so well.
The 4-H members were my very close friends. We competed with each other, but we all,
we also helped each other. We got to know some new friends, but it was like a family.
It was a wonderful institution then and still is.
[gentle acoustic guitar music]
>> Hi, I’m Jon Miskowski, director of PBS Wisconsin, and we’re watching. Meet us at the
fair. Inspired by Jerry Apps book, Meet Me on the midway, I’m
holding the book open to the central Wisconsin Fair because that’s I have this great memory
of going on a day where it was just absolutely pouring rain. As
we approach the fair and as people were kind of running out, I remember my parents saying, well, we’re not leaving. And it
was like the greatest day of my life as a little boy. It had everything a fair had and it had
rain and it had puddles. That is everything. Everything you need.
This program inspires so many great memories for all of us, and how important the fairs are,
and the recognition of how much work and heart that people across the state put into it.
Please call us with your support at (800) 236-3636. And this is a
really good reason to call. This is a challenge break, meaning that your dollars are doubled when you call right now. Members
of PBS Wisconsin have made a special gift above and beyond their annual support to challenge and double your gift
for new members. Right now at (800) 236-3636. And our goal is
to get to 50 calls. So why don’t you be the next one at (800) 236-3636? That’s right.
>> And when you call right now, not only is the value of your gift doubled due to this great
member challenge at one (800) 236-3636, but you still get the great thank you gifts that we have available as well.
So as John was mentioning this at the $10 monthly level, we’ll send you Jerry’s book, Meet Me
on the midway, which is the book that inspired the program that you’re watching this evening. You get to choose either the
book or the program DVD. Meet us at the fair. That’s at the $10 level. If you can’t choose
because it’s too tough at the $15 level, we’ll send you both the book and the DVD, and if you
were able to give at the $25 a month level, your gift is doubled right now and you get
this wonderful thank you collection of seven Jerry Apps DVDs, all of the programs that
he has made with us over the past decade, filled with memories from the farm, from the fair, from the kitchen, from his
one room schoolhouse, as well as both the Meet Me on the midway book and the Old Farm Country
Cookbook. And of course, your gift is doubled right now during this challenge break. So call right now. One (800) 236-3636.
>> Hi I’m Aimee Granger it’s wonderful to hear the phones ringing and your support of
Jerry Apps programs. It’s because of you that we can continue to create these amazing programs that bring back
memories and great feelings and just beautiful views of the
farms and the animals and the fairs that we all remember for generations of, of childhood.
This is a really special program, and it’s nice to see people’s eyes light up as they view them. It’s because of you that we can continue to create
this type of programing. When you become a sustainer and give each and every month your
support endures at one (800) 236-3636.
>> Thanks. It’s great to hear the call. Remember, your dollars are doubled when you call right now. Jerry, when we got
together, took a chance, took that opportunity to tell us a little bit about what the book is about. So take a listen.
>> Okay. >> I’m here again with Jerry Apps. Jerry, tell us about the book and what’s in the book.
What readers have to look forward to. >> Okay. Well, one of the things that I do with most of my books,
because I love history, I write history, I study history, I first ask, what’s the history of
fairs? Not just in the United States, but in the world. Where did the idea of a fair get
started? We go back to the Roman Empire. Interestingly enough, and some of the very first fairs
had nothing to do with agriculture, nothing to do with judging or anything like that,
had everything to do with religion and business. Various Business, Badgers, and Beyond
businesses came together at a fair to sell their things, and that usually it was a religious
event. Adventure is the right word. At the same time, the
Romans took the idea of a fair north with them to Northern
Europe, to Germany and England and those countries and those
countries, those persons brought that idea to this country. So I
am fascinated with the idea of how did the fair get started. So
that’s the early part of the book. Then I thought it would be useful to maybe pick up the
history of a few county fairs. I ended up picking up the history
of every one of them I could find some of our short, but they are fantastically interesting.
>> Jerry is our chief storyteller, but I know that it’s inspiring stories that you
would want to share. So having the book, having the DVD is a really wonderful opportunity to
begin to have conversations in your family about your own history and your own life, and
what the fair has meant to you. Phone number to call is on the
screen one (800) 236-3636. That’s so great to hear. >> Jerry talk about. The process
that he used to write this book. And as you’re watching tonight, you’re seeing a lot of that history. Part of the fairs
across the state, how fairs were developed. And then when you get into the book, which you can get
at the $10 monthly level at one (800) 236-3636, as Jerry mentioned, you’re going to be
able to go in and find your fair, the fair that you grew up attending. For me, it was the
Racine County Fair. I’ve learned so much. It’s a fair that dates back to 1850 and just the entire
history of the local fair, along with how it fits within the state culture of fairs. It’s a wonderful book. And of course,
right now your gift is doubled when you give at the $10 a month level, you get the book, or you get to choose the DVD, or at the
$15 a month level, we’ll send you both the book and the DVD so you can enjoy the program that
you’re enjoying with your family tonight to share with friends and family, and then look up the history of your local fair in
that book at the $15 a month level, and of course, at the $25 a month level, we’ll send you
for the biggest Jerry Apps fans out there. And who among us isn’t? We’ll send you the Jerry Apps collection of DVDs. I call
it a fairly large collection of DVDs, seven of them and two books. The Meet Me at the Midway book and the Old Farm Country
Cookbook. Call Right Now one (800) 236-3636. >> Now’s a great time to call. Be the next caller. And Eric just mentioned the Old Farm
Country Cookbook. This is such a charming, classic cookbook. There are so many recipes in
here that remind me of my grandmother, and that I want to teach my daughters to cook from, because it’s just lovely. And it
feels also like the fair. There’s just classic recipes in here, just beautiful. So if you’re able to pledge at any
level this evening, let us thank you with some of these gifts. And of course, “Airwaves” program guide each and every
month so that you can plan for what you’re going to watch. You’re not going to miss programs like Jerry Apps. Meet
us at the fair. Give us a call this evening at one (800) 236-3636. Or you can go
online at pbswisconsin.org and pledge your support there at whatever level feels right to
you. And thank you. >> Thanks. We’ve had a few folks call in with a gift of $25 a
month that includes the book, the DVD collection, and the cookbook. Thank you for that.
Thank you for joining us tonight. Here’s some more words from Jerry Apps. I’m here with
Jerry Apps, and I just wanted to show this chapter heading for the county fair. So I looked in
there and found Portage County. It was important to me to look at that history and see the
other counties that are histories that are represented here. It’s just a wonderful celebration of this wonderful
Wisconsin tradition. And thank you for joining us, and we appreciate your calls and your
pledges, and we appreciate also, Jerry, your long support for public television. We have one
thing we want you to do, and you’ve done so well in the past and has been, is to ask people
to join you in giving and supporting public television. >> Sure. Well, as as John has
suggested, I have been a supporter of public television for many years, and I would hope
that you would consider doing that as well. It’s one of the most treasured things that we
have in this great state of Wisconsin, and it deserves your support. So please, please take
some time and help support public television.
>> What a wonderful statement from Jerry there, and I hope that it has inspired you to reach to the phone right now.
One (800) 236-3636 is the number. This is a challenge break. So when you call, your gift is doubled due to that
member challenge. And of course the challenge also works if you scan the QR code on your on your
phone or go to pbswisconsin.org and click to support. And when you do, you get the great thank
you gift starting at the $10 gift $10 month level, we’ll send you your choice of either the book Meet Me on the midway or
the DVD of the program that inspired that you’re watching tonight. Meet us at the fair
Jerry Apps. Meet us at the fair. If you can’t decide at the $15 a month level, we’ll send you both the book and the DVD. And if
you’re a Jerry Apps super at the $25 a month level, we’ll send you the entire Jerry Apps
collection. Seven DVDs. You get the book, Meet Me on the midway, and the Old Farm Country Cookbook, which Aimee was
talking about just a few minutes ago. Call right now. One
(800) 236-3636. >> Huge thank you to those of you who have called this evening and pledged your support for
programs like Jerry Apps produces, and there’s so many ways to give, whether it’s a
sustainer each and every month, or our members of the Heritage Society. So we want to reach out
and thank the members of the Heritage Society. And if that’s something you’re considering, perhaps giving through your will
or your trust or other areas of your estate plan, we’re here to help and to appreciate your gift
of any kind, so we really encourage you, and we thank those members who have already made that decision to ensure
that programs like this go on for many generations, and we’re able to continue to produce
these programs and provide them to the community. So thank you so much for those of you who have already made that
commitment, and we encourage you to inquire if that’s something that may be something you’d like to do. If you’d like to become a
sustainer this evening, you can do that very easily by calling
one (800) 236-3636. >> It’s great to hear the phones ringing. Jerry is home tonight having a watch party with his
family and Jerry. Things are going really well, so I wanted
to share. Jerry shared a note with us recently of someone who said that his father had
recently passed, and he wanted to share this story with Jerry, and then Jerry shared it with
us. Of that his father sort of made everybody watch Jerry Apps
show when they came and visited, and it was such a meaningful that experience and the stories
that Jerry shared were so important. I’d have to say. I remember watching A farm story
with my parents and hearing about their memories. I remember sharing with my boys and sharing
my memories of that connection to the farms that they don’t have. And it just is a really
powerful tool for connecting generations. And I know it’s really important for Jerry and his career and inspiring people
to share their stories, to write them down, to talk to their children and grandchildren. And he’s been a great inspiration.
So thank you, Jerry, and thank all of you for calling with your support. Your dollars are doubled. We’re about two thirds
of the way towards our goal, so we’ve got a really good and a chance to reach our goal of 50.
Joining us with your call at (800) 236-3636. >> When you call right now, help us reach that goal. We’re at 34
right now. We’re trying to get to 50 by the end of the break. And we’re going to be going back
to the program soon. Your gift is double at one (800) 236-3636. And when you do call we’ve got those great thank you gifts
starting with the $10 monthly sustaining level. We’ll send you meet me on the midway. The book that Jerry wrote that we’ve been
talking about this evening that inspired the program. The program, of course, is Jerry Apps. Meet us at the fair.
That’s also available at the $10 level. Your choice. But if you can’t decide, we’ll make it easy at the $15 a month level. We’ll
send you both the DVD and the book. And of course, if you’re intrigued by this program, this
is the first time you’ve watched the Jerry Apps program, or you’ve watched all of them and you love them, and you want to
be able to share them with your family at the $25 a month level, we’ll send you the entire Jerry Apps collection. You get food
and memories. You get the one room school, you get the new program. Meet us at the Fair Farm winter a farm story. All of
the great programs, and you get the two books. Meet Me on the midway and the Old Farm Country
Cookbook, a great package. Whether you’re getting it as a gift for someone in your family or something for you to treasure
and share with your family, right now is the time to call, though, because your pledge is doubled at one (800) 236-3636.
>> What an incredible outpouring of support for this beautiful program. It’s a it’s a feel good
laugh cry. Have the memories type of program that Jerry Apps only Jerry Apps can bring to us.
He’s such an incredible historian and storyteller. We have just a few more calls to
make our challenge. So thank you to those of you who have made the call already, and we encourage you to make your gift
go further by being part of this challenge right now. This evening, you can pledge your support online or by calling our
friendly volunteers who are very busy tonight because of this great program. And remember, not
just the thank you gifts that Eric talked about, but of course “Airwaves” program guide each and every month tell you a
little behind the scenes and interviews and of course, the programs that are coming up each and every week on PBS Wisconsin.
Again, you can give us a call at one (800) 236-3636 and pledge your support as a sustainer or
at any level. And we appreciate your generosity now and always. Thank you.
>> For.
[upbeat steel guitar music]
The midway. A fair would not be a fair without a midway.
The midway became popular at the Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893.
It was a mile long, and at that midway, they introduced the Ferris wheel.
As you look at all the pictures, generally speaking, there’s a Ferris wheel somewhere in the background.
And the Ferris wheel has a fantastic story behind it, because it was in 1893 at the Columbian Exposition
in Chicago, the World’s Fair, that the management there wanted to have something to compete
with the Eiffel Tower in Paris, something that was as grand as the Eiffel Tower, and they put the word out.
“Come up with something that’s better than the Eiffel Tower.” And this engineer by the name of Ferris,
George Ferris, came up with the Ferris wheel. And the first Ferris wheel then was in Chicago.
It was 250 feet in diameter, it was an enormous Ferris wheel.
The county fairs saw that. “We can have a Ferris wheel.” They got a Ferris wheel.
Not one that was 250 feet in diameter, but smaller.
[playful circus music] The merry-go-round is the second common ride in a fair,
and the Tilt-A-Whirl is another one, that’s three. Then there are car rides. There are all kinds of other rides.
So the midway then became an essential part of the fairs,
along with the cattle barns and the poultry barns and all that kind of stuff, the beer tents. There was the midway,
and it’s where the kids and the young people met their spouses at the fair, often on the midway,
riding the rides.
– Noah Ballinger: But I love going on the rides. That’s, like, one of my favorite things about the fair, because I have fun with my friends
and I can just, like, scream all day. [riders screaming]
– My favorite ride is the Ferris wheel. – The Tilt-A-Whirl. – Loop de loop one.
– Freak Out. – The roller coaster.
– The one where you slide down with the mats. – The scrambler. – Hi!
– I love the Ferris wheel. – Tilt-A-Whirl, easily.
– I like the Merry-Go-Round, that’s just my speed. – Guy: The Octopus.
I had not been on the Octopus for several years until my almost teenage son took me on it three consecutive times.
I was not probably in a position where I should have driven home. [child screams]
– I like the merry-go-round because they go up and down and it has music and horses.
– Dale: At night when we’d sneak out of the dormitories, we’d walk underneath of the rides and Rock-O-Plane would go upside down, and the people’s money
would fall out of their pockets and fall on the ground, and us kids would pick it up, and then we could go on some more rides ourselves.
– I’ll be honest, I’m not a ride person. Those things scare me. They set them up, like, two, three nights before and I’m like, “No, thank you.”
[playful music]
[upbeat music]
– Jerry: Well, the fairgrounds is, in many ways, it’s seen as a symbol for the entertainment dimension
of the fair. [“Call to Post” playing] – Race Announcer: And they’re off and on their way! – Jerry: If you want to attract people to the fair,
especially those who are not particularly interested in agriculture, you needed something to bring them there.
And that’s where the entertainment come in. People could see at a fair something they couldn’t see
any other place. As fairs evolved, music became more and more a part of the fair.
[groovy blues music] Not only in the grandstand, but generally in special tents.
And I can, again, remember as a kid going into a tent and there was a guy playing the guitar and a gal singing.
Country-Western music was very popular, of course. It was good, I enjoyed it very much.
[upbeat country music] And music today is still
an extremely important part of the fair. It’s one of the attractions for younger people, to be sure.
[upbeat rock music] The entertainment at the fair has changed
as society has changed, but I read– I’ve forgotten which fair it was,
but people came and filled the grandstand to watch a man
walk backwards and be timed as to the speed with which he could walk a mile backwards, which to me sounds like
the dumbest thing in the world. [laughs] People would come to see that. And then the very early draws were horse races.
[upbeat blues music] And then to go another step from horse races to buggies,
[engine revs] that was another iteration. If my horse can pull better than your horse, well,
my tractor can surely pull more than your tractor. So we had tractor pulling contests, and that’s
still around as well. [engine roars] As the years went by, we had car races,
then demolition races, and all that kind of stuff were popular, still are.
So the entertainment has morphed from the very simple to the more complex to maybe
more sophisticated, although I hesitate to use that word, [chuckles] kinds of entertainment today.
[engine roars] – Charlene Turner: We always enjoyed the Sauk fair
because of the different things they had. I was never to a tractor pull before I got married,
and I got married at 17, just outta high school. So we were coming over to the tractor pulls because
a lot of times, my husband had a tractor in the tractor pull. [engine roars]
At that time, they had a, like a boat that just dragged the tractors, dragged it, and they’d have people
in the audience that were on the lower seats would stand up and stand on it as it went along,
’cause it was very slow, and then when it was enough people on it, it would get stopped.
I always thought that was kind of funny. My sons took over the farm, and they’re still
bringing in tractors. [engine roars] I know my brother-in-law is and his family is.
They really enjoy it. – I guess we really have fun with the tractor pull and the truck pull and the demo derby that they have.
That’s always, a lot of people, I don’t know, I hate to see cars smashed up, but a lot of people
love that kind of thing, so, it’s amazing what they can get the horsepower outta, whether it’s a truck
or a tractor, and being a farmer myself, that piques my interest in that kind of thing,
so, I guess what we come to the fair for. [engine roars]
[cheerful tuba music]
– Jerry: I will never forget as a kid, walking down the midway and smelling hamburgers frying.
[sizzling] Oh, that’s such a wonderful smell. And I didn’t have any money, so I couldn’t buy this,
these hamburgers, but I could smell them. Food and fairs go together like gloves and hands.
They’re a very important part of a fair.
As we look at the history of fairs over the years, food has been a very important part of these fairs.
And one of the other dimensions of food at the fair, which came because people wanted to see things.
They didn’t want to sit around and eat. So they invented the idea
of portable food, food on a stick.
You could get bratwurst on a stick, hamburger on a stick, bacon brats on a stick.
Breakfast on a stick, brownie waffles on a stick. Chicken in a waffle on a stick.
Deep fried bacon and cream stick on a stick. Deep fried Snickers on a stick.
You can get almost anything on a stick so they can carry it around and eat.
When I first started going to the fair in the late 1930s, the idea of everything on a stick, it wasn’t there.
I didn’t, I don’t remember anybody running around with a corndog on a stick. You can find food at fairs that you can’t find anyplace else.
And some of it is downright exotic, especially at the State Fair. Each year, they have a special list of new foods,
almost all of them on a stick.
Wisconsin was settled by a number of Germans and Polish people.
They knew about beer. They knew how to make beer in their home country. They brought their skills here.
[upbeat polka music]
Some of the fairs developed the beer tent as sort of a replica of what they remembered
from the beer gardens of Milwaukee. And the beer stand, along with the food stand,
became a part of almost every fair. And these were usually run by local organizations
like the churches and the VFW and the American Legion,
all of those. 4-H leaders, they were all a part of the food scene at the fair.
– Customer: I want a pork sandwich. – Dale: We always went to the 4-H stand and got roast beef sandwiches or hamburgers
or anything away from home was always good to eat. – Donna: I enjoy all the fair food. I try to get to the 4-H food stand
and the fire department stand and the Farm Bureau stand, and then all of the other ones that come to supply us
with food and ice cream. – David: The favorite food is, was always
the malted milkshakes at the 4-H food stand. And the reason I say that is because we were 4-H members,
we had to work at the 4-H food stand. [playful music]
– Jerry: One of the special foods at fairs is cotton candy, and it goes back to the 1900s.
And it sounds so contradictory because cotton candy is spun sugar
and it was invented by a dentist. [laughs]
And it was first introduced at the St. Louis World’s Fair in 1904.
That’s the beginning of cotton candy. Then there are funnel cakes. The Pennsylvania Dutch came up with that idea.
And then there are some specialties that fairs are known for. The Wisconsin State Fair, now in West Allis,
has cream puffs as one of their featured foods.
And people come by, literally by the thousands, and eat these special cream puffs.
– Carolyn: One of the Farm Bureau stands here has cream puffs. I might have to have a cream puff before I leave today, too.
– I guess I’m probably gonna have to say, oh, gosh. I’m gonna say cream puff just because I’m so glad they’re back.
– Eunice: This year, we have cream puffs, so we are all anxiously waiting. I think we’re all gonna kind of share
a cream puff yet. – Right now it’s the cream puffs. [laughs]
And the lemonade and the little donuts and… I’m old school.
[playful music]
[swinging music]
– Gwendolyn: Whether you’re showing or you’re just coming to the fair, there’s so many great people to meet at the different stands and the different events that are going on.
There’s always someone to talk to and learn from. And so, I think it’s a good learning opportunity for anyone that wants to learn more about 4-H
or fair projects, or just meet new people from different aspects of life. – Noah: It’s good to, like, interact with people
around your county that you wouldn’t see otherwise. And it’s, like, a good educational thing for, like, agriculture and stuff as well.
– Makenzie: You learn so much about animals, animal care, agriculture. You can learn about lots of different things
just by reading posters all over the fair, and lots of different things that you probably don’t know about.
– Bill: The thing I think that is the most important about the fair is the kids get to show their animals and meet new people and make new friends,
renew old friendships. Just to see how they did on their projects, and adults as well.
[razor buzzes] – Jonathan: I think it’s really important to see how hard these kids work with their animals
and the hard work that goes into all the projects, not just the animals, but projects.
A lotta hard work goes into it. And so, I think for others to see that, it’s important. [horse neighs]
– Gary Kaun: Statistics show that we’re five or, four, five, six generations away from the farm.
They’re the ancestors of the people living in towns. They can come out here and see how the animals are and the fact that we are good herdsmanship people,
that we do care about our animals. – Bailey Blader Lucht: I really think that it’s neat
for a lot of people to, like, come and see the different animals and the hard work, really, that the kids put in to bring their animals here,
that a lot of the kids who don’t live on farms or don’t have the animals can come and see them,
and just seeing them smile and go through all the barns, and it’s really a nice sight to see.
– Samuel Wells: It just– It’s a big community thing. The whole community gets together. They have a big fair. They go out and just have a great time.
You can’t go wrong with the fair. – Bill: I always look forward to the fair.
When my kids got out of 4-H, my wife said, “You know, you’re not gonna have to go to the fair every day anymore.” I said, “I know I don’t, but I will.”
[hammer thuds] [bell dings]
– Jerry: The fair is an educational institution. As a teacher, I have– longtime teacher,
I have always promoted the learning that takes place away from the book and out of the classroom,
and the fair is one of those places where it occurs. The fair is a place to have fun.
The fair is a place to meet old friends. A fair is a place to eat exotic food on a stick. [laughs]
The fair is a way of helping youngsters, oldsters, and everybody in between see where our food comes from
straight away. It shows us how to do it without realizing
we are learning so much about each other.
[bright music] When you mention “fair,” I am immediately thrown back
to my days as a 4-H member, and I can remember this old,
ratty tent that we bought. When you say “fair,” I am immediately in that tent
with all my 4-H buddies, and we’re sleeping on these cots and we were getting up at 5 o’clock in the morning
because we gotta get down to the barn and take care of the calves and to brush them and fix them up for the fair.
We spent hours making, curling their tails and making them look wonderful.
Those are the memories that I have now. If you ask somebody else, they might say, “Well, I met my spouse at the county fair.”
Well, gee whiz, tell me that story. It might be the person who one year
had the grand champion beef animal. Someone else might say, “Well, what I think about
“is I’m meeting friends that I haven’t seen for a long time,” but the memories are all there,
and they’re deeply implanted. Those memories of the fair I have will never go away.
[gentle music]
[crowd chatter]
>> Hi. I’m Jon Miskowski from PBS Wisconsin. Really glad that you joined us tonight for Jerry
Apps. Meet us at the fair. Based on his book published by the Wisconsin Historical Society
Press called Meet Me on the midway, and which Jerry has had a chance to explain to you. That’s available with a gift of
$10 a month and then a gift of $25 a month. We have I just want to explain what I’m holding.
These are the shows that we’ve done with Jerry Apps. The reason I have to hold so many of them is because of this. Just such
great response to every show we’ve done with Jerry that has
inspired people to call us to with their pledges, which we’re asking you to do right now. Write us with these amazing
stories about how Jerry inspired them to share their story with their family. It’s just it’s
just a wonderful, wonderful thing that makes us feel so great that we have done it and
we’ve done it for you. And because of your support, please call us right now. This is our
last chance to weigh in, and Jerry is at home watching, and I know he’s hearing the phones
ring. If you do that at (800) 236-3636. Thanks. That’s
right. >> And when you call and pledge your support right now, you’re supporting great programs like these Jerry Apps programs. If
you’re anything like us here in the studio tonight, I’m sure that as you’ve watched this program, you’ve been sharing
your own memories of the fair. I myself, my family, we call ourselves a fair family. That’s what we do in the summer. My 12
year old son loves fairs more than anything, and we try to go to as many as we can here in
Wisconsin throughout the summer. And he’s excited to dig into this book to see the history of some of those fairs that we’ve
gone to. And that’s and we will send you this book at the $10 level, $10 monthly gift level.
Or you can choose if you’d rather have the DVD of the program you’ve been enjoying
tonight, because you know someone in your family is going to enjoy watching it as well. That’s also at the $10 a month
level. If you can’t decide and you want both, give it the $15 a month sustaining level and we’ll send you both the DVD and the
book, or at the $25 a month level, we’ll send you all those DVDs that John was just showing
you, as well as the book and the old Farm Country Cook book written by Jerry and his daughter, Susan. So why don’t
you call right now? Make your pledge of support. Get one of those. Great. Thank you guys. One (800) 236-3636.
>> Wonderful. Thank you gifts. And just another moment with this country cookbook. This was written by Jerry and his daughter. So his daughter Susan
put together a lot of recipes that were Jerry’s mother’s. So it evokes all of those memories
of grandmother’s kitchens and wonderful recipes. Banana bread,
like it’s talked about in the program. There’s some rhubarb recipes. Just wonderful. You
know, special recipes made with with whole ingredients that come off the farm that maybe we don’t
see as often these days. And it’s wonderful as a gift to share with maybe a younger generation. So lots of thank you
gifts this evening for this beautiful program. Jerry is such a wonderful storyteller and
historian, and you can take a piece of that and make it a gift for someone else. When you pledge your support at one
(800) 236-3636. >> It’s so great to hear the phones ringing. Thank you for your calls and your support. If you haven’t joined us at
(800) 236-3636, I’m going to talk a little bit about public broadcasting, what it’s meant to Wisconsin.
>> As a product of a one room country school where I attended for eight years. If it weren’t
for radio, bringing the school on the air, we would not have had an outside connection to the
world at all. Let’s sing with Professor Gordon. Let’s draw.
Let’s do everything. Let’s learn about nature with with what was
his name anyway? Ranger. Mack. >> Ranger Mack. >> I was just thrilled with that
stuff. I just thought it was wonderful. And it was because it
brought together thousands of kids like me who hadn’t been out
of Wajir County. And here we’ve got a chance to see something
that’s bigger than we are. >> Well, those pictures. >> From Let’s Sing and Pop
Gordon and the concerts across the state and the music that he
brought to classrooms. It’s just a wonderful legacy that we continue through our work with education. We continue with
programs like this of sharing our heritage, and we appreciate your support and your phone call
and your pledge at (800) 236-3636. >> And when you call and make
that pledge of support right now and your gift, we, you know,
your gift supports not only great programs like what you’re watching tonight, this Jerry Apps special meet us at the
fair, but it supports all of PBS Wisconsin services, including the classroom services that we’re providing now and creating
in tandem with teachers and educators across the state. So why don’t you call right now?
Pledge your support one (800) 236-3636 and when you do, we’ve got these great thank you gift We’ve got Jerry Apps.
Owen, meet me on the midway. That’s the history of Wisconsin fairs. And it’s the book that
inspired the program tonight. And you know what it is great for? Because it has the history
of every fair in Wisconsin. It’ll inspire your next trip to the fair. If there’s a fair in a neighboring county that you
haven’t visited, or you want to plan a summer road trip, great tool for doing that. That’s at the $10 level. Or you could
choose the DVD of the program tonight, or you c get both at the $15 a monthly gift giving level at the $25 a month level.
We’ll send you all sev of the DVDs, all of the Jerry Apps DVDs, the book and the Old Farm
t you call right now, pledge your support. Get one of these great thank you gifts, and let us kno how important these great
programs are to you. One (800) 236-3636. >> Thank you for being part of this wonderful evening, this
beautiful program. Thank you for your support. If you’re already , we appreciate you so much. And
if you’ve been thinking about it and you’re enjoying this program, maybe this is the time to become a sustainer or to
increase your gift a little bit. Because this is important to you. And remember, at all of these levels that Eric talked
about this evening, it’sirways program guide. We love. This guide comes out each and every month. There’s tons of goo
information in here. And of course the program schedule. Don’t forget about Passport at any of theseevels. You can
also receive a subscription to PBS, Passport and stream all kinds of wonderful programs.
Whenever you feel like it. On mand from lots of different devices your tablet, your phone,
your computer. When you ge us a call at one (800) 236-3636.
>> It’s so great to hear the phones ringing, the conversations, people sharing stories as wonderful night. And
it can continue with your call to (800) 236-3636. And Jerry’s
going to talk a little bit about his work. I’m with Jerry Apps and Jerry. You mentioned your
experience with stormy at the fair. So you can tell folks a little bit more about that
relationship. And, and you wrote a book about that as well. >> I have stormy was a bull calf
and he was my for each project in the summer of 1947. There’s
something else happening. In the summer of 1947 that changed my life completely. In the spring,
I came down with polio and this happened in well, it happened in
actually in January. And by April, I still couldn’t walk. In
those days, there were no physical therapists. There wasn’t anything. In 1947 to help
me. My dad, bless him, he he knew about Watkin’s liniment and
he rubbed on my knee, which was paralyzed watkin’s liniment
every night. And he pulled on it and it hurt. Oh my God, that leg hurt. But I could now stand up.
And now he says, now you’re going to have to teach that stormy how to lead, or you can’t
take him to the ferry. You know, I said, well, I’ll see what I can do. Now. Stormy was a bull,
and he was also bull headed. I if you know what that means. He did not wish to be taught to
lead. If I could start with that phrase, I wished to learn how to walk. And so here is a
confrontation. A bull headed bull and a polio victim. And my
dad is standing aside, cheering us on. And the first attempts were not good. I ended up being
dragged in the dirt a couple of times, but eventually I must say
storming in and I developed a relationship. He seemed to understand better than most
people that this kid is in trouble. He needs some help and
I’m going to help him. It took a while, but now I’m leading him
and he won a blue ribbon for me at the fair. He understood me
better than most people.
>> It’s so great to hear, Jerry. Thank you for sharing your stories. And let’s talk about
working some more. I want to mention a couple people that really instrumental one, James
Steinbach, who said, we have to do something with Jerry Apps and just said, put his foot down. He was a director of Wisconsin
Public Television then and said, do it. And that first show was
just so well received, and I want to congratulate the folks, the production folks who worked on this show. It’s a beautiful
show. The fair is so it’s so represented so well in this. And
that takes care and thought and work and time. And we can just
appreciate it. But I want to make sure you understand and thank the folks who really put a
great effort into that. And then finally, part of our family, part of the team, Ruth Jerry’s
wife, Ruth, Ruth passed recently. And so we miss her. We
were inspired by her. If you ever went to hear Jerry Apps speak and you wanted to sit next
to Ruth to get the real story, just be honest about it. She’s a wonderful, just a wonderful
friend and we miss her. And I’m glad today we have a chance to
remember her and acknowledge her contributions to.
>> The.which I think is…
sounds exactly like what some sideshow people would do. There was a big sign out front that said,
“Come in and see the horse with his head where its tail ought to be.”
I mean, who wouldn’t want to see that? And people lined up, and they paid 50 cents each
to see this horse with his head where its tail ought to be. And there was a dark tent, and they would
go into this dark tent, and here was a big Belgian draft horse backed into its stall.
Its head was where its tail ought to be. [laughs]
And people walked out. They were so embarrassed that they paid 50 cents. They wouldn’t tell anybody else that they’d been taken,
and the long line continued.
– Announcer: Funding for Jerry Apps: Meet Us at the Fair is provided by the Wooden Nickel Fund,
Greg and Carol Griffin, Elizabeth Olson, the Stanley J. Cottrill Fund,
donors to the Focus Fund for Wisconsin Programs, and Friends of PBS Wisconsin.