State Fair historian Jerry Zimmerman
The Wisconsin State Fair returns to Wisconsin State Fair Park in West Allis for its 2018 run from August 2-12. Dreaming of cream puffs? Looking forward to that can't-miss concert? Interested in the visual arts events at the fair? The Shepherd Express' Wisconsin State Fair Guide has you covered! This special section is brought to you by the State Fair.
Jerry Zimmerman was carried to his first Wisconsin State Fair in diapers by his mother. That was in 1928 and there has only been two years where he hasn’t gone to the fair since.
One was not his fault. It was 1945 and the fair was cancelled because the U.S. government was trying to conserve gasoline for the war. The second was realistically not his fault either. It was 1947 and he was stationed in French Morocco as a Navy photographer.
This makes Zimmerman uniquely qualified for the position he has held since 1996: the Wisconsin State Fair’s official historian.
As historian, Zimmerman has archived photos, documents and other important artifacts for generations of fairgoers to enjoy. He has set up temporary displays that act as moving museums of Wisconsin’s State Fair history. He does have one goal he is yet to achieve: creating a year-round State Fair history exhibit on the grounds. He got a taste of his goal last year when the state Department of Natural Resources gave up its exhibit area, freeing up space for a temporary display.
“It’s a nice building,” Zimmerman says of the temporary space. “But it’s not year-round. So what we had to do was put a State Fair exhibit up, then tear it down and put it back in the box. One of the hopes is that we could find a sponsor that could make it an all-year, all-weather building. It could be done but it would cost money.”
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Zimmerman still has one white whale of an artifact that he would love to see as the centerpiece to his exhibit. “My real goal would be this merry go round,” he said, referring to a Philadelphia toboggan carousel, also known as a PT#15. It was on the fairgrounds back when Zimmerman was a kid, and he used to pretend that he was the Lone Ranger riding his horse Silver while he was on it.
“When I came aboard in 1996, I asked, ‘What ever happened to that merry go round?’” Zimmerman said. His search led him to a historian in Muskego, Wis., a businessman in Oshkosh, Wis., a carousel museum in Oregon and finally the Palisades Mall in West Nyack, N.Y.
When he finally got to ride his old merry go round at the Palisades Mall, he found out that his prized horse was still in Oregon. “I have tried for years to find someone to bring that back, and I would like to tie that merry go round into a standalone unit on State Fair Park, anchoring a Wisconsin State Fair historical collection,” he said. “I would need a sponsor for about $1.5 million to bring it back to Milwaukee.”
At 90 years old, Zimmerman understands that he won’t be able to be the State Fair’s official historian forever. Luckily, he already has someone ready to take his place. “We call him Mr. Z,” Zimmerman said. “He is a retired State Fair police officer. He is the archivist. He’s spent the last five years now cataloguing and sorting what I have placed in the archives, and he’s doing a super job. It’s in safe hands.”
Hopefully there is still time to bring back that merry go round.
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