The Good News: They Won A Big Prize. The Bad News: Now They’ve Got to Lug it Around

Heading over to the barns to find some live animals, I stumbled onto this herd of stuffed animals.

Billy Dodge, his brother Dusty Dodge and buddy Nathan Christensen, all of Ellsworth, Wis., hit it big with the “Lift up the Bottle” game on the Midway. The Dodges are students at the University of St. Thomas, and Christensen attends the University of Minnesota, but judging from their swag — and accompanying swagger — these guys could be students of the Carnival College.

The Dodge boys won their ginormous prizes on their first attempts Monday; it took Christensen two tries to win. Steady hands is what it takes, they said. The booth proprietor must have been glad to see them ride out of Dodge.

But wait. That’s not the whole story.

more inside

“Don’t get the wrong idea,” Billy said. “I don’t want anyone to think they can just come down here and win on their first try.” Billy said. “We’ve been here other years and lost at the game lots of times.”

So, isn’t it a pain carrying those around all day?

“No, we like carrying them around. Looks pretty cool. The problem will be getting them in the car for the ride home,” Billy said.

Maybe they should have thought of that before taking advantage of those poor carnies. ;)

Just as the Ellsworth fellows toddled off with their loot, here comes Cheryl Woessner of St. Paul carrying the same kind of giant stuffed animal. And she, too, won it on the bottle game.

“This is the fifth year in a row I’ve won one of the big ones,” she said. She and partner Stacha Woessner have a trophy room, of sorts, where they display all their plush winnings. After a few years on exhibit, they give them away to children.

Cheryl said it took her three tries, this year, to win the gorilla. And she was taking it straight to the parking lot, where it will wait in the car until they’ve finished their fair adventures for the day.

I’m writing each of these items as I come across them at the fair, but I consider each to be part of a bigger whole. So you can follow along by reading all of my State Fair posts when you click here