Yes, it used to be there, but no, you don’t remember it — not unless you’re at least 141 years old and have an unusually retentive memory. The Wisconsin State Fair was at the site of today’s Camp Randall Stadium nine times between 1858 and 1885. Before settling on its current, permanent home in West Allis in 1892, the state fair was what classics scholars would describe as peripatetic. It moved around a lot, with six homes in five different cities. In 1858, the State Agricultural Society — then sponsor of the fair — leased land southwest of the UW campus from the estate of William Bruen. The site hosted the fair that year and again in 1860 (but not in 1859, when the a future Bascom Hill resident gave a speech to fair-goers). The next year, the Civil War started, and the state established Camp Randall as an army training ground and then prison camp. The fair returned after the war, but in 1893, the legislature bought the lot and gave it to the university, which turned it into an athletics facility. Though the fair left campus, the UW didn’t leave the fair. In ensuing years, various departments have had display booths, and the Marching Band and Bucky have been frequent crowd pleasers. UW–Madison students have had starring roles as the state’s Honey Queen or Alice in Dairyland. And of course one of the state fair’s most important partners is UW–Madison’s Division of Extension, which supports Wisconsin 4-H. If you go to the fair this year, be sure to have a cream puff and honey lemonade!