There still may be an opportunity to get your hands on the popular State Fair cream puffs later this summer, despite the fair being canceled.
When WTMJ’s John Mercure asked State Fair Chairman John Yingling about the possibility of creating a Cream Puff drive-thru, Yingling said it was not out of the question.
“You bet. We are looking at everything. There is still that possibility,” Yingling told Mercure.
“Kathleen (O’Leary, CEO) and her team, they are a fantastic group of people, the most dedicated Fair people in this entire country. They will find a way to produce something,” he added, speaking in a general sense about some sort of Fair-related program that could happen.
In past years, the Fair has operated its own Cream Puff drive-thru for fans of the beloved treat. WTMJ has also hosted an annual drive-thru Cream Puff giveaway.
Safety concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic led to the cancellation of the 2020 Wisconsin State Fair on Thursday. The Fair will take a seven-figure monetary loss due to the cancellation, but it might be less than if the Fair chose to hold a partial festival, according to Yingling.
“There is going to be a sizable revenue impact,” he told Mercure.
“The board has looked, with no fair, seeing a deficit moving into fiscal year 2020 of anywhere between $4 million and $4.5 million. Our fear would have been, if we put together a fair that didn’t generate the type of money, we still have all these fixed costs, we could have even lost more money. For us, it’s protecting the cash and valuable assets we have at Wisconsin State Fair Park so we can come out of this and move stronger, not have to basically continue to pay for the problems in the past.”