[00:00:00] Fuzz Martin: Hello, hope you’re having a wonderful summer. I am Fuzz Martin, and this is Fifteen Minutes with Fuzz. This past weekend, Shanna and I went to a celebration of life for my Longtime mentor, Mike Elliott, who passed away in May of 2020. He had been like another father to me while I was growing up in the radio business, and I was very saddened to see that he left this earth, and he is very much missed.
And while we were at the remembrance, I was looking at a table full of memorabilia and photos from his life and career, and one of the items on the table was a daily news article from Al Dunn, and profiling Mike’s career and the name of the article from April of 2005, and I had never seen it before, was Fifteen Minutes with Mike Elliott, which blew me away.
Anyway, the reason I am where I am today is because of Mike and I’m so thankful that he took a chance on me back when I was a This week, Kelly Boone from the Washington County Fair Park joins me to talk all about the upcoming Washington County Fair. This year’s fair takes place on Tuesday, July 26th through Sunday, the 31st.
They’ve got a number of big name acts, along with a whole bunch of food, fun, and animals. And with that, here are 15 minutes on the Washington County Fair with Kelly Boone. On Fifteen Minutes with Fuzz.
All right. So somehow we’re already in mid July and it’s time to start talking about the 2022 Washington County Fair. Kelly, thank you for joining me today. Thanks for having me. I know that you’re super busy getting ready for the fair right now, right? Oh, it’s go time. What a. What kind of things do you have to do like this far out before the fair starts?
What does your day look like?
[00:01:59] Kelly Boone: So we get through the fair and then we take a week off and then we start planning the next fair. But at this point where we’re at, fair entry is just closed. So we’re checking everything. We’re getting ready to print tags, do superintendent packets. It’s a lot of paperwork, a lot of printing, a lot of sorting.
Um, it’s probably going to take three of us in the office, like two or three days just to get everybody’s stuff ready for that.
[00:02:20] Fuzz Martin: Sure.
[00:02:20] Kelly Boone: Beyond that, it’s going out and. Deciding where I’m going to place vendors that are outside. Finishing the layout for the vendors that are inside. We have like a whole fair bunker is what I call it at the office where like all of my things are that are going to have to go out there like sponsor posters and hand washing signs and all of the things that have to get done on the grounds that you can’t do this far out, but it’s all getting printed and prepared and sorted and put in a spot so that we don’t forget about it.
[00:02:50] Fuzz Martin: Well, I can only imagine that there’s a. A lot of organization, a lot of lifting, a lot of printing, a lot of calling people, and I appreciate you coming in and making some time to talk to me.
[00:03:00] Kelly Boone: Oh no, this is, this is great. I love talking about the fair, so.
[00:03:03] Fuzz Martin: Excellent, excellent. The Washington County Fair has been going on for a very long time.
What anniversary is this, this year?
[00:03:08] Kelly Boone: This is our 164th.
[00:03:10] Fuzz Martin: Wow. It’s come a long ways too.
[00:03:13] Kelly Boone: It really has, like I just had to do a history lesson on the fair for a group that had come in and going all the way back to when it was in West Bend where Fair Park Elementary School is to the Slinger days and now, now here we are.
[00:03:26] Fuzz Martin: Even the Fair Park itself has come a long way since it’s been the Fair Park and it’s a great place.
[00:03:32] Kelly Boone: Yeah, 1999, it started there, so.
[00:03:34] Fuzz Martin: What do you have new coming up at the 2022 Washington County Fair?
[00:03:39] Kelly Boone: So new this year, we have quite a few new food vendors this year. I want to say we’re at about nine, which is awesome.
[00:03:46] Fuzz Martin: Yep.
[00:03:47] Kelly Boone: So you’re going to have all your fair favorites. And then you’re going to have some really new fun things to try. Like, we have an exotic jerky vendor coming. All right. So different exotic meats. Excellent. Which I’m sure some people will greatly enjoy. We have an Aussie’s Pies, so kind of like Shepard’s Pies coming as well.
We’re going to have seafood this year.
[00:04:06] Fuzz Martin: Great.
[00:04:07] Kelly Boone: We have a new barbecue vendor this year. Excellent. Trying to think what else off the top of my head. I was going to write these down and I forgot. Oh, you’re
[00:04:13] Fuzz Martin: good.
[00:04:14] Kelly Boone: But a lot of, a lot of new things to try this year for sure. Awesome. So that’s a big thing.
[00:04:18] Fuzz Martin: Well, so let’s talk about this schedule because it is, it starts on Tuesdays, right?
So it’s the Tuesday, the 26th, right?
[00:04:26] Kelly Boone: Tuesday, the 26th at three. At three. Okay. If you come at 10, the fair won’t be open yet. All
[00:04:30] Fuzz Martin: right. You’re still going to be rushing to get everything done right before the end. Cause that’s how it always goes, right?
[00:04:34] Kelly Boone: Exactly. All those things we didn’t know were going to come up.
[00:04:37] Fuzz Martin: Yes. So 3 PM, Tuesday, July 26th. What can fair goers expect on Tuesday?
[00:04:43] Kelly Boone: Tuesday with opening night is when we do our fireworks. Okay. And we have a firework show that is out of this world amazing. Yeah. Person that does it for us is fantastic. It’s definitely not something you want to miss.
[00:04:55] Fuzz Martin: Okay. What’s the best place so you, you know, Come in, pay to get in the fair.
And I think you have reduced admission on the Tuesday, right?
[00:05:01] Kelly Boone: Yeah, it’s 3 admission on Tuesday. And then the best place to be is to sit on the hill where the amphitheater is.
[00:05:07] Fuzz Martin: Okay. And so you launch them back over near the amphitheater? Is that how that works? Yeah. They launch
[00:05:11] Kelly Boone: them from backstage. Okay.
[00:05:12] Fuzz Martin: Awesome. That’s cool. And then you also have, uh, so obviously the fair, every county fair in Wisconsin has some has animals, right? So what are the, uh, I mean, obviously, uh, what are the, uh, what kind of animals can people see at the Washington County Fair?
[00:05:27] Kelly Boone: We, we have a great fair for animals, actually. So like some counties don’t have so much of one thing or another, but you’ve got the pleasure horses, the draft horses will be out there.
They’re doing a horse pull on Wednesday night with them. You’ve got the sheep and swine barn, dairy barn, the beef barn, And the small animal barn, which is where you’ll find all the rabbits and the chickens and the roosters. And then llamas and goats as well.
[00:05:52] Fuzz Martin: All right.
[00:05:53] Kelly Boone: There will even be the dog project will be out there doing some things as well.
[00:05:56] Fuzz Martin: Oh, excellent. Whenever I go with my youngest, she loves to go into the small animal barn and I, my allergies for some reason, I think it’s the rabbits. So every time we go out, like just to suck it up, I’ll take some Benadryl. We’ll go in, we’ll have a good time. And so it was a lot of fun. Um, and I grew up. I grew up in Waukesha County and used to have to help out with some of our farmer neighbor friends stuff.
So I was always throwing hay. And then of course, I’m also allergic to hay. So every, uh, every year I’d have to load up on Benadryl and, uh, and go. Throw hay or help get things ready at the farm before they took off. So always a good time, good memories. All right. So Wednesday, July 27th, you guys have military day.
Tell me what kind of activities you guys have planned to honor our service men and women.
[00:06:41] Kelly Boone: So on military day, if you present ID, you as well as one guest get in for free that day. You also get a coupon that is good for 2 off. I think a burger abroad or something at the American Legion food stand.
[00:06:53] Fuzz Martin: Okay.
[00:06:54] Kelly Boone: And then at 9am is when we do the opening ceremony out in front of the buildings. So they’ll raise the flag, we do the anthem, they do taps, and that kind of kicks off the day for us. And then starting at 11. 30, I want to say, in the Ziegler building on the stage, there’s a whole slew of activities themed.
Things for, they’ll talk about the Stars and Stripes on our program. They’re bringing, we’re bringing in a presenter this year that’s doing this whole presentation on Wisconsin’s Forgotten Hero. Really, really interesting story of a World War II Lieutenant, I believe, that was from Wisconsin and died in World War II.
On top of that, they’re also doing a tribute to a World War II veteran. I’m not sure who they’re bringing in yet though. And then we always close out that night with the River City Irregulars and the Flag Retirement.
[00:07:44] Fuzz Martin: So that is all on Wednesday the 27th. And then Thursday’s when the music starts, right?
Thursday’s when the music starts. Well, there’s
[00:07:52] Kelly Boone: music all week, but Thursday’s when the big music starts. Yes, the big stuff
[00:07:56] Fuzz Martin: at the Silver Lining Amphitheater Stage. Well, first of all, who’s playing on Thursday night?
[00:08:00] Kelly Boone: Thursday night, we have Tyler Farr with special guest Warren Zeiters.
[00:08:04] Fuzz Martin: Okay. You know, I’ve been out of country radio for so long that I don’t know.
So when I read it, I wasn’t sure if it was Zeters, Ziters. It’s Ziters. Ziters. All right. Very good. So I apologize to anyone who listens to the show who remembers when I used to be on country radio. I don’t on country radio anymore and I forget these names sometimes. Okay. And Also, the lawn seats are included with your general admission though, right?
[00:08:26] Kelly Boone: Yeah, so you can pay your general admission fare ticket and sit on the hill. There’s, there’s not a bad seat anywhere for any of those concerts. Or if you do the VIP tickets, what that does is it gets you a reserved seat for the evening in that fenced in asphalt area in front of the stage. And then you have access to your own bars and bathrooms down there.
Worth it. Definitely worth it.
[00:08:47] Fuzz Martin: And if somebody wants to buy tickets to the VIP tickets, where’s the best place to go for that?
[00:08:52] Kelly Boone: Our website would be the best place. So www. wcfairpark. com. And then if you want to get there a little bit quicker, backslash fair.
[00:09:01] Fuzz Martin: So that’s Thursday night. And then Friday night is a very popular act in our area.
So tell us who’s coming on the 28th.
[00:09:08] Kelly Boone: So we have Brett Michaels coming on the, on the Friday, I’m like, yeah, the 29th, right? We’re skipping dates here. Yes, Friday the 29th. Friday the 29th, we have Brett Michaels with special guest Frank Ray.
[00:09:19] Fuzz Martin: Are VIP tickets still available for that one?
[00:09:21] Kelly Boone: There are some available yet for that one, but that one’s selling pretty quick.
[00:09:26] Fuzz Martin: Okay, so if you’re listening to this, get on wcfairpark. com slash fair right now. And if you want VIP seats, buy those right now. And then Saturday night, we have more country music, right?
[00:09:37] Kelly Boone: We do. We have Justin Moore’s headliner with special guest Chris Kegel.
[00:09:42] Fuzz Martin: I, uh, once introduced Chris Kegel on stage and I can’t remember which fair it was, if it was Washington County back when he First came out or if it was Dodge County way back in the day, but
[00:09:52] Kelly Boone: I don’t think Chris has played ours.
Justin has.
[00:09:55] Fuzz Martin: Justin has. Okay. Then it was definitely Dodge County then. I have pictures of me standing in front of his bus with him. So it must’ve been Dodge County a long, long time ago. So again, VIP seats for, for that show?
[00:10:08] Kelly Boone: That one, there’s even fewer for. So if you want those now is definitely the time to go get them.
[00:10:12] Fuzz Martin: Okay. Again, uh, get your VIP tickets now. And then Sunday, always a big pull for the tractor pulls, right?
[00:10:19] Kelly Boone: Yes. We will have the tractor pulls again on Sunday. We are doing just the antique. older tractor pull this year. We are not doing the smoke and noise one. Um, that requires a little bit longer of a truck.
So we’ve got to look at some future improvement ideas.
[00:10:33] Fuzz Martin: Let’s talk about the tickets for the Washington County Fair. So prices kind of vary based on which day you come and your age and some other factors, right?
[00:10:44] Kelly Boone: Yes. So 3 reduced. Wednesday and Sunday for adults is 7. Thursday, Friday and Saturday for adults is 10.
Adults are considered 13 and older. Okay. And then youth tickets are 4 and that’s for kids 7 to 12. And then kids 6 and under are always free at the fair.
[00:11:05] Fuzz Martin: And if you want to take a look at all this, you can go on to wcfairpark. com slash fair and uh, there’s a list on there. And then, how much is parking at the Washington County Fair?
We do
[00:11:14] Kelly Boone: not ever charge for parking at the Washington County Fair. That was a softball for you.
[00:11:19] Fuzz Martin: So great prices, no charge for parking, a lot of great acts. And, uh, if, again, if you want to check all that stuff out, check out wcfairpark. com and you can get a full list of prices, events, times, things like that.
Kelly, I know you’re working hard and I appreciate your time. Thanks for all I know. All the work that goes into this is, is crazy. And to you and all the rest of the staff and volunteers, thank you.
[00:11:43] Kelly Boone: I would like to thank them as well, because without them, it wouldn’t happen. We have, we have an amazing staff and we have hundreds of amazing volunteers that make this come together every year.
I just get to be the face that talks about it all.
[00:11:56] Fuzz Martin: Perfect. Well, Kelly, thanks again and have a great fair.
[00:11:59] Kelly Boone: Thank you.
[00:12:05] Fuzz Martin: And that’ll do it for another episode of Fifteen Minutes with Fuzz. Thanks for listening today. I hope you’ll consider subscribing. You can simply hit the plus button on Apple podcasts or Spotify. I have no idea how you do it on Google podcasts, but I’m guessing it’s even easier than Apple or Spotify.
Maybe it has a large button that says subscribe. I don’t know. Maybe one day I’ll look. New episodes come out every Monday at midnight. We’re heading into our one year anniversary. So if this is your first time listening, you have some catching up to do. If you want to learn more, go to 15withfuzz. com.
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