WEST ALLIS, Wis – Among the fried food and Skyglider, there’s one aspect of the Wisconsin State Fair that is crucial to its’ identity: music. Wisconsin State Fair Park has more stages than the Summerfest Grounds. While most fair attendees enjoy watching a band, it takes a lot of work to make it all come together.
“We always are doing research online,” said Bud Pavilion Communications and Stage Manager Josh Quinn. “We’re looking at social media all the time. We’re looking at websites. We also have a band submission form on out website.”
Quinn is one of the many cogs in the large machine that books musicians for the Bud Pavilion. When it comes to scheduling musicians for the stage, Quinn compared it to “tetris”. But deciding which bands get to play is about identifying the right atmosphere.
“Every band has their own qualities, their own genre, their own style, and we have to determine where that is going to fit best,” Quin said. “[The bands] tell us who they are, where they play, how many people come and see them….and then we have to determine if a band will perform well in a particular time slot.”
Quinn acknowledged that they have to do the best they can, but won’t make everyone happy. He referenced the band Shotgun Jane who was “brand new” to the Bud Pavilion: “There are a lot of people who have said ‘why haven’t you had them before?’. We hadn’t received an application, or if we did it may just have not been the right timeslot.”
Aside from helping plan what shows go onto the stage, Quinn has the perspective of performing too. Quinn is a member of two bands: a rock cover band called the Cheap Shots, and ‘From Sinatra to the 60’s‘. He said its helpful to have the perspective of both managing a stage and performing on it. And from both those points of view, Quinn encouraged fair-attendees to have patience.
“The bands bust their butts to put on the best show that they can for the patrons, and the staff at the Bud Pavilion do our best to make sure that we are staffing our stage with great bands so they will enjoy it as much as they can.”
