This year’s Republican National Convention is featuring a new event just outside of Panther Arena called Convention Fest.
It brings over 100 local and statewide vendors and artists inside the hard security zone to showcase their work to visiting delegates and their guests.
Convention Fest-goers gravitated toward classic Wisconsin delicacies like fried cheese curds and Milwaukee-made memorabilia like bobbleheads of former President Donald Trump.
Lake Effect’s Joy Powers and Xcaret Nuñez went out to Convention Fest to speak with a few delegates and vendors about their experiences so far.
Georgene Faries
Washington State Delegate
What do you think about the Republican platform you and other delegates decided on?
“Well, it's different because it's more succinct. It's just sentences instead of flowery speech, poetic speech, like in documents, I do like that. This [Republican party platform] is just point blank, bullet point, after bullet point. So for somebody old school like me, I'm like, ‘Wait a minute — do we still have our strong values?’ Because that's why I'm a Republican. What sets us apart are our values. So I feel we've stayed with [our values]. I felt the Preamble was OK. It's good, it's just different, and I have to adjust to that," says Faries. "We talked about life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. I mean, what more can we say? We're going to stand on those three values, which are very good. So people have to just read it and say we didn't lose any [values]. It's just more succinct, and we just got to stay committed.”
Marc Dosogne
Ripon Chamber of Commerce
“The reason we're here is we're promoting the birthplace of the Republican Party, the little white schoolhouse in Ripon, Wisconsin. Our team is here, lifting up the history of the birthplace of the Republican Party, and the importance of it to the Republican Party's future. Its roots are based on a stand against the expansion of slavery back in 1854," says Dosogne. "So we're here at this booth and talking to people just to get them more interested in preserving the history, being a part of what we feel is really important and the whole basis of why this started. [The Republican Party’s] first successful candidate for president was Abraham Lincoln. So, when you start thinking about the purpose of the party at the time, Abraham Lincoln, what he had to do to preserve the country, emancipate slaves, it's the basis of this is pretty important.”
Tim McGough
New Hampshire Delegate
What have you enjoyed about your time in Milwaukee so far?
"Beer, beer with cheese and beer and brats. The Midwestern welcome, right? That is one of the reasons we like to come here. It’s a great city, and it's a lot of fun. And I can't believe what you've done with the place! It's been a few years since I've been here, so I had not seen the [Milwaukee] Public Market and the Third Ward — it's been incredibly revitalized. So it's pretty cool so far. [Monday night] President Trump brought the house down when he decided to show up spontaneously. That was unbelievable. Right before the setup Sen. Tim Scott talked about how the lion roared when President Trump got up from under the pile of Secret Service agents and yelled, ‘Fight, fight fight.’ That was inspiring," McGough says.
Madan Raj
Bobbletopia
What brings you to the RNC?
"We had a lot of good luck. We are based in Milwaukee and we had created a Donald Trump bobblehead about six months ago. It took quite a bit of time to make it and it just became available about two months ago. Thirdly, the RNC happened to be in Milwaukee. So all of those combined made for the perfect storm.
We've got the traditional President Donald Trump bobblehead, then we've got the boxer version of Trump. Then we've got the Trump-inator bobblehead ... if you recall from the Terminator movies, he says, 'I'll be back.' And then finally, we've got the Donald Trump freedom bobblehead, which is a mash up of the William Wallace character from Braveheart who fought for Scotland's freedom based on the true story. It’s the newest Trump bobblehead that we have.
But when it comes to the record for who's got the most bobbleheads out there, Trump is one of them. He might be the winner. I don't know for sure, but he's, up there," says Raj.
Daren Struiksma
Sioux Falls, South Dakota
What brings you to the RNC?
"I’m originally from Sioux Falls, South Dakota, but I’m [here with my aunt] to represent California. I'm [not a delegate] but I’m just here supporting President Trump in any way I can. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that I just could not miss," says Struiksma. "Unfortunately I was not able to come in 2020. So I definitely wanted to come this year because this will be President Trump's last convention and I want to support him in any way I can because he's supported us through everything. This will be my first election and I will vote for President Trump."
David Hofer
Wisconsin Fried Cheese Curds
What brings you to the RNC?
"We are promoting the joys of Wisconsin with our food. We've got deep-fried cheese curds, we've got not fried cheese curds, we've got grilled cheese, you can add bacon to that grilled cheese … I didn't know what to expect because they told us vendors that we were supposed to be open from 2:00-5:30 p.m., which isn't a very long time. So I did the math based on one of my busier events, because we just do fairs, festivals and community events, we don't have a brick-and-mortar, and I ended up bringing 360 pounds of cheese that we're going to be frying. I brought 60 pounds of non-fried cheese curds and I brought another 60 pounds of mild yellow cheddar for our grilled cheese [sandwiches].
It's not an uncommon question. What is a cheese curd? Some come with skepticism or some come with excitement. And then they take their first bite and they give us a thumbs up with smiles on their faces — that's all we're looking for," says Hofer.
