Wisconsin State Fair Park Youth Foundation will hold a ground breaking for the installation of the 2008 Grand Champion Patio on Wednesday, May 21 at 11 a.m.

Youth Foundation ground breaking officials will be assisted by 25 Fifth Grade students from Hustisford Elementary School.  Fiskars Garden and Outdoor Living has donated garden tools and shovels for the event.

The Grand Champion Patio will encircle the Central Mall Fountain and contain over 5,000 sq.ft. of bricks that are available to be engraved with a personal message to commemorate a special occasion or to share a favorite Fair memory.   The site was selected because of its interesting history related by the Fair Park Historian, Jerry Zimmerman, “The Central Mall Fountain was built for the 1961 Wisconsin State Fair, the first Fair after the permanent midway was removed.  It was an open fountain until the ‘hippie’ generation decided it was a great place to congregate.  The fountain was turned into a flower bed giving a new meaning to ‘flower power’ and it remained as such until it was rediscovered in the 1990s and return to a fountain”   This slice of Fair history and a time capsule will be the theme of the Grand Champion Patio dedication on July 30, 2008.

To celebrate the ground breaking, Youth Foundation officials have announced a contest with the winner receiving a $250 engraved brick and five runners-up receiving a gift certificate for a six-pack of Cream Puffs.   All will be invited to the dedication of the Grand Champion Patio on July 30, the evening before the 2008 Fair opens. 

  Congratulations to the 2008 Fair Park Memory Contest Winner - Sharon Thims

Contestants are asked to submit their favorite Fair Park memory and submit how they would convey that memory into three lines of text with 16 characters per line to fit onto one of the 10” hexagon bricks that will make up the Grand Champion Patio.   Anyone who can support the legend of the “hippie:” fountain with authentic photos will be a guest at the Patio’s dedication.

“We know that there many people who feel a connection to Wisconsin State Fair Park and this is a way for them to leave their legacy for generations to come.” said Steve Sazama, chairman of the Wisconsin State Fair Park Youth Foundation and State Fair vendor for 30 years.

Entries will be accepted until Friday, June 13th and can be mailed to the Youth Foundation, or submitted on-line at www.wsfpfoundation.org.

The Wisconsin State Fair Park Youth Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting year-round youth programming, the Tommy G. Thompson Youth Center, and future facility planning and development at Wisconsin State Fair Park.  The public is encouraged to support the Youth Foundation by becoming a member, purchasing commemorative bricks and participating in the Youth Foundation’s annual Golf-On-A-Stick, golf outing- on June 9 at Western Lakes Golf Club in Pewaukee.

For more information, contact Mary Beth Carr, Executive Director, Wisconsin State Fair Park Youth Foundation, 414-259-4138 or visit http://www.wsfpfoundation.org.