Some friends from out of town stopped by this morning and physically dragged me out of my apartment to the WI State Fair, heedless of my deeply-held life-long conviction that a fair without a butter cow just isn't worth the price of free admission. No offense to those born and raised here, but how can you call yourselves "The Dairy State" when you don't even have a butter cow?!?! (This how you do it.)

The bison burger was tasty and the pig/goat/duck races were cute and hugely enjoyable (in the final race, "Rutter Busch" stopped and "sprung a leak" halfway through), but overall...I wasn't impressed. The textile arts were very badly displayed. The carnies were cleaner and better dressed than the crowds (so many pregnant teenagers wearing hot pants...I know they're back in style, but damn, girls!). The cream puff was enjoyable but not worth the effort of getting there. And they seem to have removed the 100-ft refrigerated cheese display I remember from the last time I was forced to attend...