In a new Milwaukee PBS documentary, a lifelong Wisconsin fairgoer takes us on a fun-filled ride with clattering rollercoasters, prize-winning farm animals, and neon-trimmed food trucks.

× Expand

Photo by Jon Mattrisch - Getty Images

Wisconsin State Fair

A view from above the Midway at the Wisconsin State Fair.

Born on a Wisconsin dairy farm during the Great Depression, Jerry Apps has become the go-to historian on state and county fairs. Apps, 90, is a lifelong fairgoer who has served as a 4-H leader, livestock judge, and author. He has written extensively about his childhood and the role that agricultural communities played in creating and sustaining these fairs

Fairs have survived as cultural entertainment for thousands of years," Apps says. "They're still around because they've always adapted to the times." Films such as "Ben-Hur" and "Gladiator" and events like the medieval Renaissance Fair give historical examples.

Wisconsin Public Television producer Mary Pokorney-Donelan says "Jerry Apps: Meet Us at the Fair" was shot at several different locations around the state. "Jerry is the primary narrator," she says, but we also include interviews with actual fair attendees. Their memories are our memories."

The documentary premieres at 7 p.m. Monday, March 3, on PBS Wisconsin.

Jerry Apps' new book, "Meet Me on the Midway: A History of Wisconsin Fairs" was published by the Wisconsin Historical Society Press and is available at http://www.bookstore.org