When I first heard about the mob attacks on the opening night of the Wisconsin State Fair, my first read of the situation was that the fair may been “RiverSplashed”—which is to say, permanently stigmatized by violence. That stigma, it seemed to me, could have been particularly damning for an event like the State Fair, which largely attracts rural and small-town patrons who may be even more deterred by the perception of violence than city dwellers. I'm happy to report, though, that my take-away read of the situation was wrong. In spite of the bad publicity, the fair drew a record 911,231 visitors this year, four percent over last year.
“It was a tremendous Fair despite the tough start,” Wisconsin State Fair Rick Frenette said in a press release. “We are appreciative of the collaboration and efforts of the State Patrol, West Allis Police Department, and Milwaukee Police Department to assure our Fairgoers that the Fair is a safe, fun experience for our guests. We look forward to continuing to work with them for the 2012 Wisconsin State Fair and beyond.”
Those numbers were surely helped by beautiful weather and the fair's swift response to the opening-night violence—within a day the fair has changed its youth admission policies—but mostly the strong attendance reflects the common sense of fairgoers. Despite the most vitriolic, kneejerk responses from talk-radio hosts and JSOnline commenters, most people realized that an event like the State Fair is still fundamentally safe.
None of this is to downplay the severity of what happened last Thursday. Those senseless beatings cast the fair, the city and (because of the name of the fair) the entire state of Wisconsin in a bad light, and flash mobs of that sort are a real and growing problem (and most troubling, one with no easy solution, since they could spring up almost anywhere or at any time). There's also the risk that expectations of violence could become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
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But most rational people recognize that flash violence is an aberration, not a regular occurrence. As testament to that, consider the dozen or so major outdoor festivals or concerts that the Milwaukee area has hosted without incident in the 10 days since the fair's terrible start. Contrary to the most cynical racial assumptions, even African World Fest and last week's Lil Wayne concert at the Marcus Amphitheater went off without incident. And, for that matter, if you didn't hear about the violence at June's Juneteenth Celebration, that's because there wasn't any.
It's understandable that the outdoor celebrations that end with violence or havoc will overshadow the ones that don't; the media wouldn't be doing its job if it downplayed the gravity of the fair's opening-night tumult. It's heartening to see, though, that hundreds of thousands of Wisconsinites didn't let those reports get in the way of having a good time.
