This week, one Wisconsin State Park visitor was shocked to see “Prairie Farms” printed on his box of cream puffs he bought at the State Fair.
“That’s a huge Illinois dairy,” he told Public Investigator in an email. “Why is the state fair scamming Wisconsinites into believing that they are supporting a Wisconsin dairy?”
Since its debut in the 1800s, the Wisconsin State Fair has celebrated the best of the state’s agricultural heritage.
For decades, the original cream puff has been one of the most popular food items. The light, airy pastry filled with sweet cream offers a taste of what many Wisconsin dairy farms have to offer. It’s been a staple of the fair since 1924, according to the state fair website.
But is the filling in these iconic pastries made outside of the Dairy State?
Sort of.
For the past 12 years, Prairie Farms Dairy — a multibillion-dollar, farmer-owned dairy manufacturing company headquartered in Edwardsville, Illinois — has produced the cream inside the Wisconsin State Fair’s cream puffs.
However, a Prairie Farms Dairy representative reassured fairgoers that it uses milk from Wisconsin.
Cream puffs at the Wisconsin State Fair in West Allis on Aug. 7, 2025.
“Prairie Farms is proud to source the cream used in the iconic Wisconsin State Fair Cream Puffs from our Wisconsin dairy farms and farmer-owners,” Prairie Farms told Public Investigator in an email. “We receive milk from more than 50 Wisconsin dairy farm families, supporting local agriculture and ensuring the freshest possible cream for fairgoers to enjoy.”
The Wisconsin State Fair spokesperson Tim McCormick shared an identical statement with Public Investigator.
Prairie Farms produces a wide range of dairy products like butter and ice cream, sourcing dairy milk from more than 600 family farms across 18 states, including Wisconsin.
One reason the State Fair is using cream made out-of-state is that there aren’t many milk processing plants in Wisconsin. For example, Lamers Dairy, a 112-year-old milk processing company in Appleton, says it is one of only three fluid milk processing plants left in the state.
For 88 years, Golden Guernsey Dairy in Waukesha supplied cream to the State Fair until it closed unexpectedly in 2013.
The Wisconsin Bakers Association, which runs the cream puff operation, scrambled to find a Wisconsin dairy farm that could produce 1,200 to 1,500 gallons of cream for each day of the fair.
But nobody in Wisconsin could do it, former Wisconsin Bakers Association CEO Dave Schmidt told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel back in 2013. That year, Prairie Farms stepped into the role — and has remained there since.
Tell us: Are you satisfied with the origin of the cream in the Wisconsin State Fair cream puffs or do you feel duped? Reach Public Investigator reporter Gina Castro at gcastro@gannett.com.
Questions? Tips? Contact Public Investigator
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Are the Wisconsin State Fair cream puffs actually from Illinois?