Wisconsin Valley Fair in Wausau, WI. Image courtesy: WAOW TV
CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) – It’s opening day of the Wisconsin Valley Fair.
There is a curious misperception about the event that pops up each year. Everyone has an opinion about how the fair is run, or how it could be made better. And each year people forget that the fair is a private event. The fair is run by the Marathon County Agricultural Society. They even own the fairgrounds. So having a long list of suggestions, or vaguely disguised complaints, isn’t like marching down to the school board or city hall. It’s like being invited to someone’s home and telling them what’s wrong with their yard.
I remember a long feature article years ago in the Wausau Daily Herald about re-imagining the fair. They did a detailed report on the fair’s finances and delved into whether fair concerts should be included with admission.
Many years ago the fair board would ask for input from our radio station staff about who they should book for the concerts. I remember seeing the price list. Big-name musical entertainment is grossly overpriced. I remember that Huey Lewis & The News and the Steve Miller Band – both name acts with their hits in the rear-view mirror – cost more than $100,000. And that was at least a decade ago. The fair’s formula has been trying to find up-and-coming country or edgy rock acts. Some years they strike gold (Lady Antebellum, whose album took off after they were booked) and sometimes they miss (like the rock band whose lead singer overdosed and landed in rehab for the summer). And even on a budget, the concerts as so expensive to put on that there are more rodeo and demolition derby nights in recent years.
If there are challenges for the fair, I think it’s along the lines of being more and more removed from our agricultural roots. If you lived on a farm, of course fair season was the biggest time of the year. Harvest season awaited. You’d see the best livestock it the region. You’d be around other farmers, and other farm kids. Today Marathon County is no less a storehouse of agriculture. But farm work is more automated than ever before. Fewer people work on the farm. More of us are employed in other endeavors.
For me, a city boy, the fair is always a little of a disconnect. But it’s also the event where I get to meet more listeners and say ‘hello’ to people like you. And I’m looking forward to that.
Chris Conley
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