Family returns to work Wisconsin State Fair for 66th year
Kelly Hancock's family has been working the Wisconsin State Fair for 66 years.
By Gabriella Bachara
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WEST ALLIS, Wisconsin (WDJT) — The Wisconsin State Fair is celebrating 170 years of fair fun this year, but we’ve yet to come across any vendors who date that far back.
There is one that’s been returning for 66 years.
“It’s just a happy place to be,” Ted Derynda said.
At just eight years old in 1955, Derynda started working at Derynda’s Dairy Lane malt stand, formerly run by his parents.
“It was a debt that was owed to my parents, and someone offered them the Derynda’s Dairy Lane malt stand,” Derynda told CBS 58. “My mom thought it was better to take the stand than have a questions debt.”
The stand has since grown to include Adeline’s and the corn stand next door. The family has grown, too.
“I started at the original stand, working with my father, my sisters, two extended families of cousins,” Kelly Hancock said.
Derynda’s niece said the family business is something she’ll pass on to her kids, and hopefully the many generations after that, too.
“We are so proud. We really are, and I think you rarely have the opportunity to teach your kids hard work,” Hancock said. “My grandmother would be so proud.”
“They’re looking down on us, and they’re just proud,” Derynda said about his parents.
However, the fair veterans aren’t ready to pass off the reigns just yet.
“For as long as I can,” Derynda said.
You can find Adeline’s located across the Bud Pavilion.
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