Harvest Fair Celebrates 25 Years in West Allis

Justin Gagnie, 33 from West Allis, Wisconsin, is always looking for fun and free activities to take his step son to. This weekend, they visited the State Fair Park for Harvest Fair.

 Together, they tried their hand at pumpkin bowling, knocking down all the pins within three throws. Gagnie and his step son also visited the scarecrow making area. “We passed on making a scarecrow but he had a blast with the other kids throwing hay around and playing on the hay bales.”

 Wisconsin State Fair Park produced Harvest Fair for the 25^th year in a row, with attendance growing. Returning every year were family favorite events like pumpkin bowling,scarecrow making, and cookie decorating.

Other activities included camel and pony rides, a train ride through the grounds of the fair, a kiddie tractor maze, a corn maze, pumpkin decorating, a fishing fountain, inflatables and other amusement rides.

Gagnie says his step son really enjoys the outdoors and likes obstacle courses and mazes. Gagnie says, “He went through the Wacky World obstacle course over five times. It was hard getting him out of the ride area.”

Due to popular demand, events like pumpkin bowling and scarecrow making return every year. However, planning for the next year starts almost immediately after the fairs last day. The staff of the Wisconsin State Fair Park work hard on figuring out what they can add to next year’s fair. So new activities and attractions pop up every year.

“Last year we opened the Giant Slide, and families really liked that. So that [was] open again this year as well,” says Kristi Chuckel, Communications Director of the Wisconsin State Fair. “New this year was the Family Comedy Show with Kenny Ahern, who is one of the most popular street entertainers.”

Mary Oman and her boyfriend drove four hours to Milwaukee for a Brewer Game Saturday evening.They saw Harvest Fair going on and decided to take a gander. They had burgers and cheese curds for lunch at Saz’s. “We were happy to receive a free jar of Saz’s mustard with [our] $10 purchase,” said Oman.

After lunch, Oman and her boyfriend wandered through the vendors and “caught a Beatles tribute band along with a fun rock band,” says Oman. “They had a great crowd and the lead singer sang everything from Boston to Taylor Swift.”

Sponsoring Harvest Fair from the beginning has been The Micro Brew. Many visit The Micro Brew to try their seasonal brews and listen to live music playing at the Associate Bank Amphitheater. Oman says they spent a good amount of time at the Micro Brew and was shocked at how many good tappers they had.

As of recently, Authentic Birth Center has become one of Harvest Fair’s sponsors as well. Authentic found it fitting since Harvest Fair is geared toward families and celebration. Authentic has been celebrating families for five years and since then, birthing and caring for over 400 babies and supporting families from conception through delivery.

Authentic hopes to deliver a better experience for mothers by providing “an area for diaper changing, chairs for nursing,electricity for pumping, water, and air conditioning,” says Wendy Kogler,Director of Programming and Development at Authentic Birth Center. “Authentic offers a clean, comfortable and quiet environment for mothers to take care of their babies.”

We had a great turn out.We reached a lot of people, our feedback was excellent and we had over 100people through the doors,” says Kogler. “We are excited to do more projects like this and ready to continue getting into the community and providing this service.” 

As a fundraiser, the West Allis Lions Club provided an All You Can Eat Pancake  Breakfast, with all the proceeds going back to charitable causes. The Lions Club is an international organization that includes 213 countries and has almost 1.5 million members.

With Harvest Fair being at the Wisconsin State Park Fair Grounds, West Allis Loins Club Member and Youth Executive Chairman, Lion Matt Moore says, “it gives us the opportunity to be part of the community and serve a lot of people.” Plus, “Pancakes are a lot of fun, and a comfort food.”

Gagnie said they came hungry because they knew there was going to be an all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast. The breakfast was $7 for adults and $1 for children. “We both had hot chocolate, sausage and pancakes. Of course, he covered his in syrup and cherries,” Gagnie said referring to his step son.

Even with various events,activities and pancakes, Harvest Fair isn’t complete without a farmers market,seasonal shopping or a pumpkin patch. Oman said that she and her boyfriend “snapped a few ‘couples’ pictures in the photo op area that included hay bales, gourd sand colorful pumpkins and purchased some veggies from the local farmers market.”

Oman says this was their first time at the Harvest Fair, “and we are already talking about putting it on our 2019 calendar.”