Tony Evers has once again proven that he would rather perform progressive rituals than promote Wisconsin’s actual greatness.
For the Great American State Fair, a 16-day mega-event on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., from June 25 to July 10 as part of America’s 250th anniversary celebrations organized under President Trump’s Freedom 250 banner, Evers assigned a mid-level bureaucrat from the Department of Veterans Affairs to run point for the entire state. Not the marketing team from the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation. Not anyone from the Department of Tourism who knows a thing or two about selling the state, run by Evers’ most competent agency head, Anne Sayers, just a veteran affairs paper-pusher.
The results speak for themselves. Wisconsin’s pavilion will feature a fiberglass dairy cow with a milking stool for photo ops and a Harley-Davidson motorcycle. That’s it for the big draws. There will be no beer. No cheese curds. No pull tabs. No brandy. Nothing. The iconic tastes of Wisconsin, the things that actually make people think of this state, are absent due to supposed budget timing and refrigeration issues. A real promotional team would have figured it out. Evers’ single bureaucrat in charge sent excuses instead.
This is not support. This is lazy, minimal-effort sabotage, doing the bare minimum to participate.
Then there is the America250 time capsule, sealed this month in Maryland and scheduled for burial on July 4 in Philadelphia, to be opened in 2276. What did Evers’ administration contribute on behalf of Wisconsin? Letters from the governor and five other officials, a Civil War-era bald eagle feather, a Harley Owners Group coin, a veterans pin, and the real focus: a keychain bearing the seal of the Forest County Potawatomi Community, pins for the Great Lakes Inter-Tribal Council, a Waaswaaganing Zhimaaganishag patch, and a set of cards representing the state’s indigenous people.
In other words, a tin can full of woke land-acknowledgment virtue signaling. Not a single item that shows Wisconsin pride to an average citizen. No Packers. No cheese. No manufacturing legacy. No fishing heritage. No supper club culture. No old-school beer. Just the same performative indigenous boilerplate that left-wing administrations shove into every official document these days. Future generations opening that capsule in 2276 will not see the Wisconsin that built world-class dairy operations, legendary motorcycles, iconic sports franchises, and generations of tough, self-reliant people. They will see a governor more interested in checking progressive boxes than in celebrating the state he was elected to lead.
This is as embarrassing as it is revealing.
President Trump and the Freedom 250 team should publicly reject Evers’ low-effort submissions and land acknowledgment in a can time capsule entry.
Do not let it represent Wisconsin on the national stage. Instead, work with other state leaders like Senator Ron Johnson and Rep. Van Orden to curate a proper Wisconsin time capsule that captures what makes this state exceptional and worth remembering 200 years from now. Thankfully, Congressman Van Orden has already indicated he is working on such an undertaking. Instead of performative virtue-signaling tchotchkes better suited for tribal casino door prizes, I humbly submit a list of items that should go in it:
- A Packers shareholder certificate
- A classic cheesehead
- A square of turf from the home opener at Miller Park in 2001
- A jar of preserved Door County cherries
- A Kwik Trip rewards card
- An Ishnala Supper Club menu
- Acme tackle fishing lures.
- The last known can of the “beer that made Milwaukee Famous:” Schlitz
- A Les Paul guitar
- Pull tabs
- A bottle of Wisconsin-made craft brandy
- Culver’s Scoopie tokens
- Hook’s cheddar
- A Harley-Davidson poker chip
These are not partisan props. These are cultural touchstones millions of Wisconsinites care about. They may seem cliché, but Wisconsinites embrace their history. These items represent industry, sports, outdoors, food, and unapologetic fun. They tell the story of a state that works hard, plays hard, and produces things others want. And if Hook’s Cheese can age cheddar for 20 years, I trust they can produce one aged for 200.
Frustratingly, Evers chose differently. He chose a VA bureaucrat instead of marketing and tourism professionals. He chose a plastic cow and a Harley photo op instead of real Wisconsin products for the Great American State Fair. He chose tribal keychains over anything that would make a Wisconsinite nod and say, “Yeah, that’s us.”
The contrast could not be clearer. Evers is joining blue-state governor killjoys in barely participating in the America 250 time capsule and boycotting the Freedom 250 events over vague “partisan” complaints. The people of Wisconsin deserve better. They deserve leaders who celebrate this state’s real strengths without apology or dilution.
Trump should do what Evers refuses: put Wisconsin’s best foot forward. Reject the land acknowledgment in a can. Reject the plastic cow minimalism. Add Wisconsin food and beverages distinctly to their booth at the Great American State Fair. Fill the record with items future Americans will want to see when they open the capsule in 2276. Wisconsin is better than Evers’ low-effort, woke-tinged performance.
