July 21, 2024 • 29 mins
Robin talks with Kristi Chuckel, Director of Public Affairs for the Wisconsin State Fair, about what goes on behind the scenes, what's available this year, and more about everyone's favorites.
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(00:00):
Good morning. I'm Robin Colbert andthis is Madison Forum. I guess this
morning is Christy chuckles. She isthe director of public affairs for the Wisconsin
State Fair, which is just aroundthe corner. Christy, thanks so much.
I know you're probably really really busyin the days, well a couple
of weeks here leading up before theState Fair. We are really busy,
(00:21):
but it's also the most exciting timeof the year. We work so hard
all year round for these eleven days. And don't get me wrong, we
have lots of other things going onat the Old Care Park year round,
but this is obviously our big one. So as much as it's long hours
and lots of work, it's reallyrewarding when we get there because every year,
(00:41):
you know, it just gets betterand better. Now I saw that
the Northern Wisconsin State Fair just wrappedup. It's run. Is that like
the little sister to the State Fair? Or are they two different things?
There's totally separate entities and Northern WisconsinState Fair and there's a Central Wisconsin State
Fair. They're really not affiliated withus at all, and we actually call
(01:03):
them regional fairs or like district fairs. Obviously, there's county fairs in Wisconsin
all over. I mean, we'revery good friends with them, but ultimately
they just decided to name that themselvesin Northern and Central Wisconsin state Fair at
some point. But both really greatevents and all of the county and district
(01:26):
fairs in Wisconsin. You know,we all know each other, we share
ideas, we go to conventions together. So it's a great industry to be
in too, because we're really notcompeting. You know, we're not competing
with the Northern Wisconsin State Fair.I mean, we hope that people will
come from way up north, andwe know people do. But we always
(01:47):
say that about other state fairs aswell. I mean, we're really not
competing with the Minnesota State Fair orthe Illinois State Fairs. People want to
go to both, they will,but we all kind of have our own
thing and our own audience and welove sharing ideas. Yeah, you know,
this state fair is this kind ofa Midwest thing, Christy or I
(02:07):
mean, will you find the CaliforniaState Fair, Florida State Fair. It
just seems that we really it's oneof the cornerstones of summertime in Wisconsin.
It is. They are all overthe country. Interesting. So Florida State
Fair absolutely out in California. InCalifornia you have a lot of really really
(02:29):
big county fairs. Sure, theOrange County Fair is huge, but they
have a state fair as well.Out east, you have state fairs as
well. But then you also havethe big e it's called, which is
the Eastern States Exposition. So that'sa fair that really highlights several of the
Eastern States. But they really areall over the country. Southwest, you
(02:52):
know, there's Arizona, New Mexico. Almost every state has a state fair,
not everyone does. I think inthe Midwest, you know, we're
pretty big. Texas is actually thebiggest date pare in the country. It's
well, very long, it's huge. Minnesota is a very big stare.
But we we are some of thebiggest fairs Wisconsin, Indiana, Minnesota.
(03:13):
Obviously, agriculture is such a hugepart of our industry in our state and
the Midwest, so that's part ofwhy our fares are so big. Yeah,
and I get it with everything's biggerin Texas, right but right,
But but you can wear out yourwelcome if you go on too long.
That is true. We have actually, you know, over the years we
do always talk is this the rightamount of time is eleven days? Does
(03:38):
it still work for us? Itstill works really well. Some fairs have
gone to longer Somemmer shortened. SummerFest obviously changed their model a few years
ago to be, you know,just on the weekends. Which what do
you think is that better for them? No, it's good and bad.
I used to work for Summer Fast. Okay back in the day when it
(03:59):
was eleven days. I think thoseweekdays were getting really difficult for them.
Attendance wasn't as great and just thinkabout how many bands they're trying to book
on those weekdays. So from abooking standpoint, I really think that made
sense for them as well. Soobviously there are tendances a little lower because
they don't have as many days,but I think it's working well for them.
(04:21):
I think most people really do wantto go to Summer Fest those weekends.
But we've found out at the fair. We've obviously done surveys and we've
talked to our board, and we'vetalked internally a lot about what it ever
makes sense for us to close ona Monday or Tuesday, And for us
it just doesn't. I mean ouragriculture shows are so important, it just
(04:43):
wouldn't work when it comes to movingthe animals in and out of the fair.
People love the eleven days. Yes, our Mondays and Tuesdays tend to
be our lightest attendance days, butthat's okay. There's still a lot of
people here, and we're always tryingto get people to come during the week
if they can take off work.Such a great time to be able to
like really walk around and see allof the animals and go on the rides
(05:04):
and get all the food you want. But of course are weekends are our
most popular days well, and it'syeah, it's nice for those who,
may you know, don't like todeal with all the crowds they can bank
on. Okay, let's plan aroundto go to that Monday or Tuesday when
we don't have to deal with somuch traffic. So yeah, I like
that. I understand it. WhereasSummerfest is, you know, the music
(05:28):
oriented here with a state Fair,yes you have music, but it's much
about agriculture and of course all thefood. I should make mention I've been
talking with Christy here that the StateFair kicks off August first and runs through
the eleventh at State Fair Park inWest Dallas, and you had mentioned,
you know, I don't have littlekids the card around any longer grown up.
(05:51):
But I was trying to think ifyou guys, yeah, of course
you still have rides at the StateFair, right we do. City is
our ride and game area. It'son the north end of the fair park.
You can see it right from Ininety four. You know, it's
a big, big part of whatwe do. And we used to contract
(06:13):
with a carnival company, which iswhat most fares do, and there's great
carnival companies out there, but overthe years we just realized we wanted spin
City to be what we wanted itto be. In that I mean,
we don't have a single contract witha company who just brings in all the
rides and games. We contract individuallywith every single ride and game owner.
(06:34):
That way, we can hand pickthe ride that we feel quite frankly,
are safe and our run well andhave you know, quality staff that are
newer, you know, whatever itmay be. We also look at,
obviously how these rides do at otherfares in terms of revenue, and we
hand pick every single one so wefeel, you know, really great about
(06:58):
what we have going on in city, great place for families, trying to
make it affordable. We still dohave risk bands, but with those you
can buy them ahead of time forthe weekdays. If you want a wristband
on the weekend, you'd have tobuy it on site. But we also
just sell individual ticket packs too,so if you know, if you just
want to go down there and goon three rides, you know, and
(07:18):
not spend the whole day there,it's a really great option. And that
what's nice about the ticket you know, ristbands for one person, but that's
the ticket sheets as we call them. You can buy a lot, but
then split them up with you know, if you have three kids, you
can buy them up amongst them,so that works out really well for families.
I feel like, what what doesSpin City? What sort of rides
(07:41):
are we and obviously there's something that'sgoing to be whipping your round that's just
kind of w to go thinking aboutit. Yep, it's everything. I
mean, we have a roller coaster, oh really yeah, we always try
to bring in a roller coaster,and they'll be one this year. But
we also have yet your full onyou know, upside down spinning all kinds
of. We have a couple ofnew rides this year. One of them
(08:05):
is one of those we have theentire list of rides, you know for
ride bus. Who know these ridesin the names of the rides for me?
And I was like, I rememberthe Gravitron from when younger, but
other than that and the Zipper,everyone knows the Zipper. Sure, yeah,
but we have and there's rides thatare like similar to those but now
(08:26):
have a new name because they're youknow, updated. But we have all
of our rides on our website,which is Wi Statefair dot com, and
we list the height requirements so youknow, some of these rides do have
you know, little kids can't goon them, So we have all of
the height requirements for every ride onour website so you can plan ahead.
And then we do have a wholesection that is just for the younger kids,
(08:48):
so we have you know, multiplerides are just for the little ones.
Okay, good, and uh nowlet's move on to offer the rides
and to what's the bigger attraction.I'm going to say probably food, well
food or agriculture depends, Yeah,it depends on a person. Yeah,
(09:11):
and of course entertainment as well.But there's just so much going on with
food and all the things on astick has really grown leaps and bounds over
the years. I mean it's prettymuch everything on a stick. Is that
kind of a requirement at the StateFair? You know? I feel like
this stick trend wasn't huge for awhile. It's kind of gotten away from
(09:35):
it. If you look at ournew foods list, we have one hundred
new foods and beverages this year,which is pretty typical our vendors every year.
They love to keep their standards favoritesthat everyone loves, but they know
if they have some crazy new items, people are going to come right to
(09:56):
their stands, so a lot ofthem try to come up with new things
each year. We always have somenew vendors. We have ten new vendors
this year, which is a lot. I'm excited about that. One of
them's a gourmet soda and slushy placeBoba tea, which the kids love these
days. I have teenagers, sure, But we have one hundred like I
(10:20):
said, new foods and beverages beverages, and if you look at the list,
definitely a lot on a stick.But it's trending more towards just trying
to come up with crazy things.Yeah, and I'm looking for different mixtures.
Yeah, I'm looking at some ofthe options here at the State Fair,
and some of these entre Oh mygoodness, the brisket beer cheese baker.
(10:45):
This is a smoked baked potato.Oh wow, with ranch butter,
Wisconsin white cheddar, beer cheese,brisket, barbecue sauce. Oh, fried
onion strings. Oh my gosh.Yes, that's what I'm talking about.
These these items have so many ingreensthat I can't even you know, I'm
not looking at the website right soI can tell you. But they're just
(11:09):
kind of out there. And wehave this spkis competition now that's actually in
its eleventh year, and ever sincewe started that, these vendors have I
mean because really sometimes the craziest thingsare the ones that when they have to
taste good at chul, I mean, we do a fun, you know,
taste test, but they get prettycreative. I've noticed a lot of
(11:30):
pickles. People are loving pickles.There's multiple new pickle items. We've always
had lots of deep fried pickles here. Even our staff goes around and taste
tests and picks their favorite. Butthese are like crazy pickle things, like
purple pickled lemonade. Oh wow,one of the one of the best fair
foods I've ever eaten. It wasat the State Fair a few years back.
(11:56):
It was and I had a girlfriendof mine with me and we got
the of fried deep fried olives ona stick. Both of us just had
to stop and it was almost likea religious moment. It was just the
most awesome thing ever I know.And I hate to tell you this,
but they're not here anymore because Ilove them too. And it's so funny
(12:18):
because you know it's like a loveor hate thing. Well, I love
olives, so do I. Imean when they the first year they came,
I was so excited. And Idon't know, you know what happened
with that family business, But weshould try. You know. Now you've
got me thinking we should get oneof our other vendors to make those.
They could still make the deeper.Absolutely, I'm going to work on behalf
of the olive stick lobby and getit back to the State Fair because it
(12:41):
was truly a phenomenal, phenomenal food. It was awesome. You think you've
gotten some more interest too. Withthe whole it's become very trendy things a
lot I think to that, whatis it Hulu that has the Bear that
show about the Chicago chef and alsofood or what was it Top Chef that
(13:01):
was in focused on Wisconsin and inMilwaukee. There's a lot of attention in
Milwaukee's always had a really hip andhappening cuisine scene, but it seems to
have been amped up just even moreover this past year. I agree,
and I think that might be whywe have ten new vendors this year,
you know, I mean, westill have our our staples who are wonderful.
(13:22):
Of course, jazzs isn't going anywhere, you know, the cream puffs
and all of that, But wehave a lot of interest from local restaurants
and beyond to be at the fair. And I think maybe people know our
fair is actually a little unique comparedto like theirs throughout the country, where
we have all of these permanent,actual buildings where there's like restaurants where you
(13:48):
can even have a waitress serview andthen there's a band playing. That's not
I mean, there's other fairs thatdo that, but it's not the norm.
So we love that we have thosebuildings that our vendors actually own those
buildings and they you know, havebeen here for years. But then you
have all of the vendors on GrandStand Avenue and kind of scattered throughout and
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the trailers. You know, alot of them are not local. They're
not from Wisconsin. We have agood mix of Wisconsin vendors and non but
they travel around to all the differentfairs and you know, clearly do a
phenomenal job, so that's why theywe want them here. But yeah,
we've had a definite uptick. Ifeel like in restaurants wanting to be at
(14:30):
the fair, vendors wanting to beat the Wisconsin State Fair. Because I
agree with you, I think Milwaukee'sreally like on the map, the culinary
scene. Top Chef of course wasbig, but I agree the last few
years. I mean, we've gotjust some phenomenal restaurants in downtown Milwaukee right
now, and if people are comingfrom out of town, I hope that
they can, you know, spendsome time at the fair. Bell so
spend some time in the city withthe RNC. You know, there's a
(14:54):
lot that was done as well,and you know, there's just the downtown
is looking great, and I knowthat people have opinions about it, but
I think this whole area of southeasternWisconsin is really having a moment, and
of course that's great for us.Yeah, absolutely, and I agree.
It's always been a favorite we canget away sometimes my husband I will go
(15:16):
there just you know, to goeat, and not necessarily for a concert
or the brewers or what have you, but just because. And Madison's no
slouch either, but where you know, I'm at. But it's fun to
just see what's happening and what's newon the food scene in Milwaukee. Now,
of course the State Fair, it'sit's just not complete without one of
the cream puffs. And I'm guessingthis is probably kind of like I don't
(15:39):
know which came first here in Madison. Of course, we have the big
Broadfast every Memorial Day weekend, andthe friday before is this take You're brought
to work day that's really become huge. So I was reading here about cream
puff a Palooza and this is theday before the State Fair opens up where
(16:00):
you can register to win like allthese but I think the registration's closed already.
But that is that kind of likea take you're brought to work?
Is it kind of a creampuff towork or do you have something about that
that's a unique thing. It's theone hundredth anniversary of the creampuffs, so
we're doing all of these fun thingsaround that, like what you're talking about.
(16:22):
There's a celebration during the fair that'sactually sponsored by UW Credit Union this
year, so there'll be a bigparty in Central Park. But the take
your creampuff to work is really ourWe have a drive through. Okay,
you can pick up your cream puffsand not even have to go into the
fair, and then you can takecreampuffs to work. I mean, we
(16:45):
hope you come back and go tothe fair. But yeah, we've been
doing that for years. So youmight have started it and broadfasts and got
the idea from you. Yeah yeah, I don't know. I'll have to
look into the years, but yeah, yeah, we've been doing that for
a while. We have. Sowith this hundred year of the cream puffs,
we're very excited that we have flavoredcream puffs this year. This is
(17:06):
we've never had flavored cream puffs atleast as far as I know, So
it's something that people ask for allthe time, and we're always saying,
yeah, that's a great idea.It's just really difficult for us to produce
multiple flavors and have that output,you know, the production not slow down.
No one wants to wait in linefor an hour for their cream puff.
(17:27):
So but this year we figured outa way to do it. And
when I say we, you knowthere's we don't make creampuffs, you know,
State Fair staff doesn't. It's theoriginal cream puff bakers. The Wisconsin
Bakers Association is really who started that. Greenby's Bakery locally is involved, so
they're the ones that make all thecream puffs. But we will have four
flavors and they're a limited edition,so we'll have a flavor for the first
(17:52):
few days and then we switch,you know, every couple of days,
we'll switch flavors, but they're whenthey're gone, they're gone, and we're
only doing one. I was innine hundred and twenty four each day,
which is a nod to nineteen twentyfour, the first year the creampuff was
made. Get that I did notcome up with that idea. No,
that's very clever. So what arethe flavors? So we start with root
(18:15):
beer ooh, root beer float reallywhich makes sense? Then raspberry cheesecakes,
then English tusty, and then wehave to end with chocolate birthday cake.
Oh wow, that's yeah. Soagain wisdayfair dot com all the details on
(18:36):
all things creampuffs, how much theycost, the flavors, everything's on our
website. Was the I really don'tknow, and shame if this is the
case. Was the cream puff inventedin Wisconsin at the state Fair? I
don't know that it was invented.What it was The whoever I think was
(18:56):
the governor at the time actually allasked the Wisconsin Baker's Association to come up
with an item that would showcase agriculturein Wisconsin that people would want to eat.
I mean, I feel like thiswas kind of where food started to
become more of a thing at fairs. Yeah, the cream puff is obviously
(19:18):
the dairy, the milk and thecream, as well as the wheat that
makes the shell. You know,that was their idea, like, let's
do cream puffs. Was it thefirst cream puff? I don't want to
claim that because I don't know thatI've ever could have, but it's all
you know, it was all madefrom Wisconsin agriculture products into this amazing cream
(19:40):
puff and it's been a thing eversince. Yeah, and you hit the
nail on the head because as youwere explaining there, I just briefly googled
and saw a journal Sentinel peace onthis where the former governor in Wisconsin at
the time, John Blaine, backat the state Fair in nineteen twenty four,
wanted to showcase the state's dairy industry. And is it Charles Creamer or
(20:02):
Kramer Creamer? I think yeah,Kramer came up with making up this cream
puff, But I do believe anactual like the cream puff was born.
I guess there's its roots date backto sixteenth century France. So all right,
so maybe we didn't invent it,but we perfected it. Well,
we perfected it. And there's noother Wisconsin State Fair original cream puff out
(20:25):
there, right, No, absolutelynot. And it's just how do you
limit yourself when you're do you justcompletely stay away? Because when the fair
is underway, I mean, havingbeen one of the main organizers here,
coordinators, I'm sure you're on thegrounds day in, day out. How
many cream puffs do you allow yourselfto have over the eleven day period?
(20:45):
I Am not going to lie.We deliver cream puffs next week kind of
our own town. I'll actually bebringing some to Madison, so maybe I'll
stop by. But we I usuallyhave one or two then, and then
during the fair maybe have one,like when my kids come to go grab
one. I saved because I've alreadyhad a cream puff before the fair.
(21:07):
Then when the fair actually comes,I kind of got to save my calories,
you know for all the other amazingthings. Absolutely, and one the
Sporky's kind of that's a is thata several day competition or it does go
on during the fair that the judgesare testing all the things and then they
submit their entries for the end ofthe fair. How does that work?
(21:30):
Well, that's how we used todo it. We used to have well
one day like judging day during thefair. But people really wanted to have
the winners choicen before the fare becauseif they want to try every winner,
they need to, you know,they need so the competitions thing going on.
This will be the eleventh year.I'm not sure when we switched,
(21:51):
probably after COVID, to be honest, but we decided to go to doing
so we pick the final pre fair. I mean those have been picked for
a while and we just picked thosebased on their entries, so we haven't
even tried them yet. But it'stheir description, their ingredients, their perceived
taste. Even we give points forlike portability. You know, it's still
(22:18):
the fair, and we feel liketo really be a fair food you need
to be able to walk around.So that's where that stick thing comes in.
But a lot of people are usingmore, just like the boats and
things like that. But to keepit all containued, Like, we don't
want a full plate entree, right, you don't want somebody walking around with
a steak on the plate. Trycutting that exactly like steak and potatoes and
yeah, all that stuff, Imean you can. That's that's why they
(22:41):
combine all those ingredients. You know, if you look at these pigsres like
they figure out a way to wrapa model up and steak frim So.
But the four keys, Now wehave the competition where the judges come and
actually taste all of the items twodays before the fair so that we can
announce the winners. But we stillyou know, when you're walking around the
fair, we have these giants sportsthat basically show you where all of the
(23:06):
finalists are not just the winners,but then we have the winners you know,
recognized, and that's all on ourwebsite as well. So as soon
as we pick the winners, they'llbe announced right before the fair and then
you can but really come try allof the entries because they all sound delicious
and even on our new we havelike a new foods list that you can
print out or pick up at thefair, and we know, like we
(23:26):
have a little icon and notes whichones are the spoorkis on that list.
Let's turn to entertainment here, becauseyou do it well. Obviously you're not
like the big Summer Fest musical event, but you've got stuff going on every
day of the fair. And it'sa free stage, right so our main
(23:48):
stage is not free, the mainstage that's okay, but it's very reasonably
priced. So every day of thefair we have a main stage act.
It varies from We're starting with comedianand then we go into you know,
we have kids stop every year.We have Lauren Daego coming, great Christian
artists, foreigners doing their farewell tourtier are stopping here on August tenth,
(24:11):
so those tickets are ext I meanthey're not free with fair admissions, but
if you buy a concert ticket,your fair admission is included, okay.
And the most expensive ticket we haveis seventy dollars, which if you think
about how expensive concerts are these days, I can't. I mean it's I
(24:33):
think it's amazing you can get afor soal more concerts. You can get
like an up close seat for fortydollars. Wow, so really reasonably priced.
And that you know, an adultfair admission tickets at eighteen, so
that's included in the price. Andthen you know kids and seniors have discodes.
But it really is a great deal. So, like I said that,
(24:53):
that whole list is again online wistatefaredot com. TLC is coming,
which I'm excited about that. We'lltell you my age. Don't go chasing
waterfalls, Christy see for me inmy group, I'm probably a little older
than you. Foreigner and Melissa Ethritchare you Ethridge? Are you kidding me?
(25:15):
That's going to be a great show. I see that Saturday August tenth,
and yeah, we're looking at tickets. You can there is low as
sixty up to seventy, so that'sto see those two and that's pretty reasonable
that. I don't know if Ithink that is our top selling show right
now. So we still have ticketsavailable, but I'm telling people and that
could sell out. So if youwant to get those, go on our
(25:37):
website check it out, and likeI said, your for admission will be
included on that day. Charlie Barnsa Wisconsin treasure. He'll be taking the
stage on Thursday, August eighth.Yeah, so you do have a quite
a fantastic lineup. What is justto get into the fair for adults and
children? What is the daily seenfor adults? A gate and then seniors
(26:00):
and military and youth are all thirteenokay, and five and under are always
three okay. And then we havesome other admission promotion deals where you can
do different things. We always dosomething with Hunger Task for so opening day,
and there's a new sponsor on thatPigley Wiggly. So there's lots of
other ways though to get in forless than that, so check that out
(26:22):
on wistatefare dot com. You canalso look at you know, purchasing cream
puff vouchers ahead of time and thingslike that. So that's all on our
website. We have a couple youknow, grocery stores that are selling tickets
as well. Again, I don'twant to say that because I'm like,
I don't know if they're in Madisonor not. I can't remember, but
again that's on the website. Andparking, we have general parking for fifteen
(26:47):
motorcycles are eight. But if you'veever been to the Ferry, you know
there's parking not in our lots,it's also you know, in the neighborhoods
and around the surrounding areas, andthat's that's usually more than more than ample.
Yeah, yeah, and there's Imean on a Saturday or Sunday.
I'm not gonna lie. If theweather's nice, it is busy, so
(27:07):
I advise people to plan ahead,you know, get here early. Every
once in a while we do shutour parking mats down because they're full,
there's no spots left, but there'sparking available in the surrounding neighborhood. Do
they do do they do shuttles aroundtwo? I'm guessing yep. Yes,
a lot of like bars and restaurantsthrough shuttles as well. And if memory
(27:30):
serves me, I didn't recall eventhough there always seems to be construction somewhere.
There's no construction in the immediate area, is there? Not? Really
No, I mean there is alot of construction everywhere right now, but
in the immediate area no, LikeI ninety four right here, they did
the you know, they did theZoo interchange years ago, so that we're
(27:51):
good there. So I mean dependingobviously. I mean I've been to Madison
lately. There's some construction, butit's not terrible coming from that way to
live out, you know. Yeah, typical summer conser live in Walkershaw County
and me getting in here is notbad. I'll just tell you that.
And let's keep our fingers crossed forthe weather because, like I'm talking with
(28:12):
Christy here the Wednesday before this airson Sunday morning here in July leading up
to the State Fair. But wehave a gorgeous week. Finally, we're
getting a gorgeous stretch of weather,and I sure hope that it continues,
given I tell you what severe weatherseason has worn out. It's welcome this
year. We keep saying, Imean, we feel bad as summer of
(28:36):
us did not have the best weatherit has been. I mean, we
see pretty much it rains every dayit's ridiculous. Hopefully it's getting it out
of its system and it'll break.Yeah, it's looking good right now.
We try not to look too fara hot at the weather because you know,
it changes all the time. Butat the same time, the weather
(28:57):
is so important to us, andwe are once the starts, we are
monitoring all the time in case ofsevere weather, I mean twenty four to
seven between our police and US andour partners, making sure that you know,
if severe's well, if severe weather'scoming in, we are on top
of it and can let people knowand get people off rights and all the
things that need to happen. Allright, Well, Christy, it sounds
(29:18):
like it's going to be another hellof a year for the Wisconsin State Fair
again. It kicks off August first, runs through the eleventh at State Fair
Park in West Dallas. Christy Chuckle, director of public Affairs for the Wisconsin
State Fair, my guest this morning. And Christy, hopefully I plan to
get there at least one day,So hopefully we'll catch you at the fair.
(29:41):
Okay, that would be great.Let me know when you're coming.
Alrighty, you've been listening to MadisonForum
Good morning. I'm Robin Colbert andthis is Madison Forum. I guess this
morning is Christy chuckles. She isthe director of public affairs for the Wisconsin
State Fair, which is just aroundthe corner. Christy, thanks so much.
I know you're probably really really busyin the days, well a couple
of weeks here leading up before theState Fair. We are really busy,
(00:21):
but it's also the most exciting timeof the year. We work so hard
all year round for these eleven days. And don't get me wrong, we
have lots of other things going onat the Old Care Park year round,
but this is obviously our big one. So as much as it's long hours
and lots of work, it's reallyrewarding when we get there because every year,
(00:41):
you know, it just gets betterand better. Now I saw that
the Northern Wisconsin State Fair just wrappedup. It's run. Is that like
the little sister to the State Fair? Or are they two different things?
There's totally separate entities and Northern WisconsinState Fair and there's a Central Wisconsin State
Fair. They're really not affiliated withus at all, and we actually call
(01:03):
them regional fairs or like district fairs. Obviously, there's county fairs in Wisconsin
all over. I mean, we'revery good friends with them, but ultimately
they just decided to name that themselvesin Northern and Central Wisconsin state Fair at
some point. But both really greatevents and all of the county and district
(01:26):
fairs in Wisconsin. You know,we all know each other, we share
ideas, we go to conventions together. So it's a great industry to be
in too, because we're really notcompeting. You know, we're not competing
with the Northern Wisconsin State Fair.I mean, we hope that people will
come from way up north, andwe know people do. But we always
(01:47):
say that about other state fairs aswell. I mean, we're really not
competing with the Minnesota State Fair orthe Illinois State Fairs. People want to
go to both, they will,but we all kind of have our own
thing and our own audience and welove sharing ideas. Yeah, you know,
this state fair is this kind ofa Midwest thing, Christy or I
(02:07):
mean, will you find the CaliforniaState Fair, Florida State Fair. It
just seems that we really it's oneof the cornerstones of summertime in Wisconsin.
It is. They are all overthe country. Interesting. So Florida State
Fair absolutely out in California. InCalifornia you have a lot of really really
(02:29):
big county fairs. Sure, theOrange County Fair is huge, but they
have a state fair as well.Out east, you have state fairs as
well. But then you also havethe big e it's called, which is
the Eastern States Exposition. So that'sa fair that really highlights several of the
Eastern States. But they really areall over the country. Southwest, you
(02:52):
know, there's Arizona, New Mexico. Almost every state has a state fair,
not everyone does. I think inthe Midwest, you know, we're
pretty big. Texas is actually thebiggest date pare in the country. It's
well, very long, it's huge. Minnesota is a very big stare.
But we we are some of thebiggest fairs Wisconsin, Indiana, Minnesota.
(03:13):
Obviously, agriculture is such a hugepart of our industry in our state and
the Midwest, so that's part ofwhy our fares are so big. Yeah,
and I get it with everything's biggerin Texas, right but right,
But but you can wear out yourwelcome if you go on too long.
That is true. We have actually, you know, over the years we
do always talk is this the rightamount of time is eleven days? Does
(03:38):
it still work for us? Itstill works really well. Some fairs have
gone to longer Somemmer shortened. SummerFest obviously changed their model a few years
ago to be, you know,just on the weekends. Which what do
you think is that better for them? No, it's good and bad.
I used to work for Summer Fast. Okay back in the day when it
(03:59):
was eleven days. I think thoseweekdays were getting really difficult for them.
Attendance wasn't as great and just thinkabout how many bands they're trying to book
on those weekdays. So from abooking standpoint, I really think that made
sense for them as well. Soobviously there are tendances a little lower because
they don't have as many days,but I think it's working well for them.
(04:21):
I think most people really do wantto go to Summer Fest those weekends.
But we've found out at the fair. We've obviously done surveys and we've
talked to our board, and we'vetalked internally a lot about what it ever
makes sense for us to close ona Monday or Tuesday, And for us
it just doesn't. I mean ouragriculture shows are so important, it just
(04:43):
wouldn't work when it comes to movingthe animals in and out of the fair.
People love the eleven days. Yes, our Mondays and Tuesdays tend to
be our lightest attendance days, butthat's okay. There's still a lot of
people here, and we're always tryingto get people to come during the week
if they can take off work.Such a great time to be able to
like really walk around and see allof the animals and go on the rides
(05:04):
and get all the food you want. But of course are weekends are our
most popular days well, and it'syeah, it's nice for those who,
may you know, don't like todeal with all the crowds they can bank
on. Okay, let's plan aroundto go to that Monday or Tuesday when
we don't have to deal with somuch traffic. So yeah, I like
that. I understand it. WhereasSummerfest is, you know, the music
(05:28):
oriented here with a state Fair,yes you have music, but it's much
about agriculture and of course all thefood. I should make mention I've been
talking with Christy here that the StateFair kicks off August first and runs through
the eleventh at State Fair Park inWest Dallas, and you had mentioned,
you know, I don't have littlekids the card around any longer grown up.
(05:51):
But I was trying to think ifyou guys, yeah, of course
you still have rides at the StateFair, right we do. City is
our ride and game area. It'son the north end of the fair park.
You can see it right from Ininety four. You know, it's
a big, big part of whatwe do. And we used to contract
(06:13):
with a carnival company, which iswhat most fares do, and there's great
carnival companies out there, but overthe years we just realized we wanted spin
City to be what we wanted itto be. In that I mean,
we don't have a single contract witha company who just brings in all the
rides and games. We contract individuallywith every single ride and game owner.
(06:34):
That way, we can hand pickthe ride that we feel quite frankly,
are safe and our run well andhave you know, quality staff that are
newer, you know, whatever itmay be. We also look at,
obviously how these rides do at otherfares in terms of revenue, and we
hand pick every single one so wefeel, you know, really great about
(06:58):
what we have going on in city, great place for families, trying to
make it affordable. We still dohave risk bands, but with those you
can buy them ahead of time forthe weekdays. If you want a wristband
on the weekend, you'd have tobuy it on site. But we also
just sell individual ticket packs too,so if you know, if you just
want to go down there and goon three rides, you know, and
(07:18):
not spend the whole day there,it's a really great option. And that
what's nice about the ticket you know, ristbands for one person, but that's
the ticket sheets as we call them. You can buy a lot, but
then split them up with you know, if you have three kids, you
can buy them up amongst them,so that works out really well for families.
I feel like, what what doesSpin City? What sort of rides
(07:41):
are we and obviously there's something that'sgoing to be whipping your round that's just
kind of w to go thinking aboutit. Yep, it's everything. I
mean, we have a roller coaster, oh really yeah, we always try
to bring in a roller coaster,and they'll be one this year. But
we also have yet your full onyou know, upside down spinning all kinds
of. We have a couple ofnew rides this year. One of them
(08:05):
is one of those we have theentire list of rides, you know for
ride bus. Who know these ridesin the names of the rides for me?
And I was like, I rememberthe Gravitron from when younger, but
other than that and the Zipper,everyone knows the Zipper. Sure, yeah,
but we have and there's rides thatare like similar to those but now
(08:26):
have a new name because they're youknow, updated. But we have all
of our rides on our website,which is Wi Statefair dot com, and
we list the height requirements so youknow, some of these rides do have
you know, little kids can't goon them, So we have all of
the height requirements for every ride onour website so you can plan ahead.
And then we do have a wholesection that is just for the younger kids,
(08:48):
so we have you know, multiplerides are just for the little ones.
Okay, good, and uh nowlet's move on to offer the rides
and to what's the bigger attraction.I'm going to say probably food, well
food or agriculture depends, Yeah,it depends on a person. Yeah,
(09:11):
and of course entertainment as well.But there's just so much going on with
food and all the things on astick has really grown leaps and bounds over
the years. I mean it's prettymuch everything on a stick. Is that
kind of a requirement at the StateFair? You know? I feel like
this stick trend wasn't huge for awhile. It's kind of gotten away from
(09:35):
it. If you look at ournew foods list, we have one hundred
new foods and beverages this year,which is pretty typical our vendors every year.
They love to keep their standards favoritesthat everyone loves, but they know
if they have some crazy new items, people are going to come right to
(09:56):
their stands, so a lot ofthem try to come up with new things
each year. We always have somenew vendors. We have ten new vendors
this year, which is a lot. I'm excited about that. One of
them's a gourmet soda and slushy placeBoba tea, which the kids love these
days. I have teenagers, sure, But we have one hundred like I
(10:20):
said, new foods and beverages beverages, and if you look at the list,
definitely a lot on a stick.But it's trending more towards just trying
to come up with crazy things.Yeah, and I'm looking for different mixtures.
Yeah, I'm looking at some ofthe options here at the State Fair,
and some of these entre Oh mygoodness, the brisket beer cheese baker.
(10:45):
This is a smoked baked potato.Oh wow, with ranch butter,
Wisconsin white cheddar, beer cheese,brisket, barbecue sauce. Oh, fried
onion strings. Oh my gosh.Yes, that's what I'm talking about.
These these items have so many ingreensthat I can't even you know, I'm
not looking at the website right soI can tell you. But they're just
(11:09):
kind of out there. And wehave this spkis competition now that's actually in
its eleventh year, and ever sincewe started that, these vendors have I
mean because really sometimes the craziest thingsare the ones that when they have to
taste good at chul, I mean, we do a fun, you know,
taste test, but they get prettycreative. I've noticed a lot of
(11:30):
pickles. People are loving pickles.There's multiple new pickle items. We've always
had lots of deep fried pickles here. Even our staff goes around and taste
tests and picks their favorite. Butthese are like crazy pickle things, like
purple pickled lemonade. Oh wow,one of the one of the best fair
foods I've ever eaten. It wasat the State Fair a few years back.
(11:56):
It was and I had a girlfriendof mine with me and we got
the of fried deep fried olives ona stick. Both of us just had
to stop and it was almost likea religious moment. It was just the
most awesome thing ever I know.And I hate to tell you this,
but they're not here anymore because Ilove them too. And it's so funny
(12:18):
because you know it's like a loveor hate thing. Well, I love
olives, so do I. Imean when they the first year they came,
I was so excited. And Idon't know, you know what happened
with that family business, But weshould try. You know. Now you've
got me thinking we should get oneof our other vendors to make those.
They could still make the deeper.Absolutely, I'm going to work on behalf
of the olive stick lobby and getit back to the State Fair because it
(12:41):
was truly a phenomenal, phenomenal food. It was awesome. You think you've
gotten some more interest too. Withthe whole it's become very trendy things a
lot I think to that, whatis it Hulu that has the Bear that
show about the Chicago chef and alsofood or what was it Top Chef that
(13:01):
was in focused on Wisconsin and inMilwaukee. There's a lot of attention in
Milwaukee's always had a really hip andhappening cuisine scene, but it seems to
have been amped up just even moreover this past year. I agree,
and I think that might be whywe have ten new vendors this year,
you know, I mean, westill have our our staples who are wonderful.
(13:22):
Of course, jazzs isn't going anywhere, you know, the cream puffs
and all of that, But wehave a lot of interest from local restaurants
and beyond to be at the fair. And I think maybe people know our
fair is actually a little unique comparedto like theirs throughout the country, where
we have all of these permanent,actual buildings where there's like restaurants where you
(13:48):
can even have a waitress serview andthen there's a band playing. That's not
I mean, there's other fairs thatdo that, but it's not the norm.
So we love that we have thosebuildings that our vendors actually own those
buildings and they you know, havebeen here for years. But then you
have all of the vendors on GrandStand Avenue and kind of scattered throughout and
(14:09):
the trailers. You know, alot of them are not local. They're
not from Wisconsin. We have agood mix of Wisconsin vendors and non but
they travel around to all the differentfairs and you know, clearly do a
phenomenal job, so that's why theywe want them here. But yeah,
we've had a definite uptick. Ifeel like in restaurants wanting to be at
(14:30):
the fair, vendors wanting to beat the Wisconsin State Fair. Because I
agree with you, I think Milwaukee'sreally like on the map, the culinary
scene. Top Chef of course wasbig, but I agree the last few
years. I mean, we've gotjust some phenomenal restaurants in downtown Milwaukee right
now, and if people are comingfrom out of town, I hope that
they can, you know, spendsome time at the fair. Bell so
spend some time in the city withthe RNC. You know, there's a
(14:54):
lot that was done as well,and you know, there's just the downtown
is looking great, and I knowthat people have opinions about it, but
I think this whole area of southeasternWisconsin is really having a moment, and
of course that's great for us.Yeah, absolutely, and I agree.
It's always been a favorite we canget away sometimes my husband I will go
(15:16):
there just you know, to goeat, and not necessarily for a concert
or the brewers or what have you, but just because. And Madison's no
slouch either, but where you know, I'm at. But it's fun to
just see what's happening and what's newon the food scene in Milwaukee. Now,
of course the State Fair, it'sit's just not complete without one of
the cream puffs. And I'm guessingthis is probably kind of like I don't
(15:39):
know which came first here in Madison. Of course, we have the big
Broadfast every Memorial Day weekend, andthe friday before is this take You're brought
to work day that's really become huge. So I was reading here about cream
puff a Palooza and this is theday before the State Fair opens up where
(16:00):
you can register to win like allthese but I think the registration's closed already.
But that is that kind of likea take you're brought to work?
Is it kind of a creampuff towork or do you have something about that
that's a unique thing. It's theone hundredth anniversary of the creampuffs, so
we're doing all of these fun thingsaround that, like what you're talking about.
(16:22):
There's a celebration during the fair that'sactually sponsored by UW Credit Union this
year, so there'll be a bigparty in Central Park. But the take
your creampuff to work is really ourWe have a drive through. Okay,
you can pick up your cream puffsand not even have to go into the
fair, and then you can takecreampuffs to work. I mean, we
(16:45):
hope you come back and go tothe fair. But yeah, we've been
doing that for years. So youmight have started it and broadfasts and got
the idea from you. Yeah yeah, I don't know. I'll have to
look into the years, but yeah, yeah, we've been doing that for
a while. We have. Sowith this hundred year of the cream puffs,
we're very excited that we have flavoredcream puffs this year. This is
(17:06):
we've never had flavored cream puffs atleast as far as I know, So
it's something that people ask for allthe time, and we're always saying,
yeah, that's a great idea.It's just really difficult for us to produce
multiple flavors and have that output,you know, the production not slow down.
No one wants to wait in linefor an hour for their cream puff.
(17:27):
So but this year we figured outa way to do it. And
when I say we, you knowthere's we don't make creampuffs, you know,
State Fair staff doesn't. It's theoriginal cream puff bakers. The Wisconsin
Bakers Association is really who started that. Greenby's Bakery locally is involved, so
they're the ones that make all thecream puffs. But we will have four
flavors and they're a limited edition,so we'll have a flavor for the first
(17:52):
few days and then we switch,you know, every couple of days,
we'll switch flavors, but they're whenthey're gone, they're gone, and we're
only doing one. I was innine hundred and twenty four each day,
which is a nod to nineteen twentyfour, the first year the creampuff was
made. Get that I did notcome up with that idea. No,
that's very clever. So what arethe flavors? So we start with root
(18:15):
beer ooh, root beer float reallywhich makes sense? Then raspberry cheesecakes,
then English tusty, and then wehave to end with chocolate birthday cake.
Oh wow, that's yeah. Soagain wisdayfair dot com all the details on
(18:36):
all things creampuffs, how much theycost, the flavors, everything's on our
website. Was the I really don'tknow, and shame if this is the
case. Was the cream puff inventedin Wisconsin at the state Fair? I
don't know that it was invented.What it was The whoever I think was
(18:56):
the governor at the time actually allasked the Wisconsin Baker's Association to come up
with an item that would showcase agriculturein Wisconsin that people would want to eat.
I mean, I feel like thiswas kind of where food started to
become more of a thing at fairs. Yeah, the cream puff is obviously
(19:18):
the dairy, the milk and thecream, as well as the wheat that
makes the shell. You know,that was their idea, like, let's
do cream puffs. Was it thefirst cream puff? I don't want to
claim that because I don't know thatI've ever could have, but it's all
you know, it was all madefrom Wisconsin agriculture products into this amazing cream
(19:40):
puff and it's been a thing eversince. Yeah, and you hit the
nail on the head because as youwere explaining there, I just briefly googled
and saw a journal Sentinel peace onthis where the former governor in Wisconsin at
the time, John Blaine, backat the state Fair in nineteen twenty four,
wanted to showcase the state's dairy industry. And is it Charles Creamer or
(20:02):
Kramer Creamer? I think yeah,Kramer came up with making up this cream
puff, But I do believe anactual like the cream puff was born.
I guess there's its roots date backto sixteenth century France. So all right,
so maybe we didn't invent it,but we perfected it. Well,
we perfected it. And there's noother Wisconsin State Fair original cream puff out
(20:25):
there, right, No, absolutelynot. And it's just how do you
limit yourself when you're do you justcompletely stay away? Because when the fair
is underway, I mean, havingbeen one of the main organizers here,
coordinators, I'm sure you're on thegrounds day in, day out. How
many cream puffs do you allow yourselfto have over the eleven day period?
(20:45):
I Am not going to lie.We deliver cream puffs next week kind of
our own town. I'll actually bebringing some to Madison, so maybe I'll
stop by. But we I usuallyhave one or two then, and then
during the fair maybe have one,like when my kids come to go grab
one. I saved because I've alreadyhad a cream puff before the fair.
(21:07):
Then when the fair actually comes,I kind of got to save my calories,
you know for all the other amazingthings. Absolutely, and one the
Sporky's kind of that's a is thata several day competition or it does go
on during the fair that the judgesare testing all the things and then they
submit their entries for the end ofthe fair. How does that work?
(21:30):
Well, that's how we used todo it. We used to have well
one day like judging day during thefair. But people really wanted to have
the winners choicen before the fare becauseif they want to try every winner,
they need to, you know,they need so the competitions thing going on.
This will be the eleventh year.I'm not sure when we switched,
(21:51):
probably after COVID, to be honest, but we decided to go to doing
so we pick the final pre fair. I mean those have been picked for
a while and we just picked thosebased on their entries, so we haven't
even tried them yet. But it'stheir description, their ingredients, their perceived
taste. Even we give points forlike portability. You know, it's still
(22:18):
the fair, and we feel liketo really be a fair food you need
to be able to walk around.So that's where that stick thing comes in.
But a lot of people are usingmore, just like the boats and
things like that. But to keepit all containued, Like, we don't
want a full plate entree, right, you don't want somebody walking around with
a steak on the plate. Trycutting that exactly like steak and potatoes and
yeah, all that stuff, Imean you can. That's that's why they
(22:41):
combine all those ingredients. You know, if you look at these pigsres like
they figure out a way to wrapa model up and steak frim So.
But the four keys, Now wehave the competition where the judges come and
actually taste all of the items twodays before the fair so that we can
announce the winners. But we stillyou know, when you're walking around the
fair, we have these giants sportsthat basically show you where all of the
(23:06):
finalists are not just the winners,but then we have the winners you know,
recognized, and that's all on ourwebsite as well. So as soon
as we pick the winners, they'llbe announced right before the fair and then
you can but really come try allof the entries because they all sound delicious
and even on our new we havelike a new foods list that you can
print out or pick up at thefair, and we know, like we
(23:26):
have a little icon and notes whichones are the spoorkis on that list.
Let's turn to entertainment here, becauseyou do it well. Obviously you're not
like the big Summer Fest musical event, but you've got stuff going on every
day of the fair. And it'sa free stage, right so our main
(23:48):
stage is not free, the mainstage that's okay, but it's very reasonably
priced. So every day of thefair we have a main stage act.
It varies from We're starting with comedianand then we go into you know,
we have kids stop every year.We have Lauren Daego coming, great Christian
artists, foreigners doing their farewell tourtier are stopping here on August tenth,
(24:11):
so those tickets are ext I meanthey're not free with fair admissions, but
if you buy a concert ticket,your fair admission is included, okay.
And the most expensive ticket we haveis seventy dollars, which if you think
about how expensive concerts are these days, I can't. I mean it's I
(24:33):
think it's amazing you can get afor soal more concerts. You can get
like an up close seat for fortydollars. Wow, so really reasonably priced.
And that you know, an adultfair admission tickets at eighteen, so
that's included in the price. Andthen you know kids and seniors have discodes.
But it really is a great deal. So, like I said that,
(24:53):
that whole list is again online wistatefaredot com. TLC is coming,
which I'm excited about that. We'lltell you my age. Don't go chasing
waterfalls, Christy see for me inmy group, I'm probably a little older
than you. Foreigner and Melissa Ethritchare you Ethridge? Are you kidding me?
(25:15):
That's going to be a great show. I see that Saturday August tenth,
and yeah, we're looking at tickets. You can there is low as
sixty up to seventy, so that'sto see those two and that's pretty reasonable
that. I don't know if Ithink that is our top selling show right
now. So we still have ticketsavailable, but I'm telling people and that
could sell out. So if youwant to get those, go on our
(25:37):
website check it out, and likeI said, your for admission will be
included on that day. Charlie Barnsa Wisconsin treasure. He'll be taking the
stage on Thursday, August eighth.Yeah, so you do have a quite
a fantastic lineup. What is justto get into the fair for adults and
children? What is the daily seenfor adults? A gate and then seniors
(26:00):
and military and youth are all thirteenokay, and five and under are always
three okay. And then we havesome other admission promotion deals where you can
do different things. We always dosomething with Hunger Task for so opening day,
and there's a new sponsor on thatPigley Wiggly. So there's lots of
other ways though to get in forless than that, so check that out
(26:22):
on wistatefare dot com. You canalso look at you know, purchasing cream
puff vouchers ahead of time and thingslike that. So that's all on our
website. We have a couple youknow, grocery stores that are selling tickets
as well. Again, I don'twant to say that because I'm like,
I don't know if they're in Madisonor not. I can't remember, but
again that's on the website. Andparking, we have general parking for fifteen
(26:47):
motorcycles are eight. But if you'veever been to the Ferry, you know
there's parking not in our lots,it's also you know, in the neighborhoods
and around the surrounding areas, andthat's that's usually more than more than ample.
Yeah, yeah, and there's Imean on a Saturday or Sunday.
I'm not gonna lie. If theweather's nice, it is busy, so
(27:07):
I advise people to plan ahead,you know, get here early. Every
once in a while we do shutour parking mats down because they're full,
there's no spots left, but there'sparking available in the surrounding neighborhood. Do
they do do they do shuttles aroundtwo? I'm guessing yep. Yes,
a lot of like bars and restaurantsthrough shuttles as well. And if memory
(27:30):
serves me, I didn't recall eventhough there always seems to be construction somewhere.
There's no construction in the immediate area, is there? Not? Really
No, I mean there is alot of construction everywhere right now, but
in the immediate area no, LikeI ninety four right here, they did
the you know, they did theZoo interchange years ago, so that we're
(27:51):
good there. So I mean dependingobviously. I mean I've been to Madison
lately. There's some construction, butit's not terrible coming from that way to
live out, you know. Yeah, typical summer conser live in Walkershaw County
and me getting in here is notbad. I'll just tell you that.
And let's keep our fingers crossed forthe weather because, like I'm talking with
(28:12):
Christy here the Wednesday before this airson Sunday morning here in July leading up
to the State Fair. But wehave a gorgeous week. Finally, we're
getting a gorgeous stretch of weather,and I sure hope that it continues,
given I tell you what severe weatherseason has worn out. It's welcome this
year. We keep saying, Imean, we feel bad as summer of
(28:36):
us did not have the best weatherit has been. I mean, we
see pretty much it rains every dayit's ridiculous. Hopefully it's getting it out
of its system and it'll break.Yeah, it's looking good right now.
We try not to look too fara hot at the weather because you know,
it changes all the time. Butat the same time, the weather
(28:57):
is so important to us, andwe are once the starts, we are
monitoring all the time in case ofsevere weather, I mean twenty four to
seven between our police and US andour partners, making sure that you know,
if severe's well, if severe weather'scoming in, we are on top
of it and can let people knowand get people off rights and all the
things that need to happen. Allright, Well, Christy, it sounds
(29:18):
like it's going to be another hellof a year for the Wisconsin State Fair
again. It kicks off August first, runs through the eleventh at State Fair
Park in West Dallas. Christy Chuckle, director of public Affairs for the Wisconsin
State Fair, my guest this morning. And Christy, hopefully I plan to
get there at least one day,So hopefully we'll catch you at the fair.
(29:41):
Okay, that would be great.Let me know when you're coming.
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Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!