While many of the children at the fair are going to be hitting up all the rides and attractions at the midway, a big draw for the adults will be across the fairgrounds: the beer tent.
As Elwyn Lang, who’s worked the beer tent for the past 20 years, can tell you, it’s no small feat to provide several thousand people with cold ones.

“Our supplies come the weekend before and we put them all in a cooler truck and get them cooled down and then put ice on them when they go in the deep freezes,” he said, adding that over the years they’ve streamlined the setup process. “We have old deep freezes that don’t have any motors on them and we just put a little ice on them just to keep them cool.”
“We order 1,700 [cases of beer], somewhere in that neighborhood,” he said, adding that Bud Light is the most popular brand.
While that may seem like overkill, with 40,000 people expected to come through over the course of the weekend, 40,800 beers should go a long way.
“A lot of people come you know,” he said. “Some of them are thirsty.”
During the fair, Lang said that typically they’ll have four people selling tickets and another 15 tending the bar.
Volunteers start filling the coolers at eight in the morning and those serving at night stick around till the fair closes.
“The evenings are the busiest,” he said. “During the day it’s not too busy.”
“We’d just like everybody to have a good time,” he added. “A trouble free time, that’s what we’re looking for.”
He said that there are volunteer spots available and anyone that’s interested can contact him or Paul Scheel for more information.