'This is wonderful': Patients, families at Children's Wisconsin experience State Fair magic

WAUWATOSA, Wis. (CBS 58) -- Roughly two miles northwest of the Wisconsin State Fairgrounds, you'll find the campus of Children's Wisconsin. Inside, the patients had a special experience on Tuesday: the Wisconsin State Fair brought to them.

"The Wisconsin State Fair is a huge thing for families here over the summer," said Leslie Scott, a certified child life specialist and programming coordinator with Children's Wisconsin. "They just can't go with their family like everybody else, we just bring it to them."

Patients were treated to a fair experience including wind-up pig races, carnival games, fair foods including the famous State Fair cream puffs, and even magical acts from performer Steve Trash, a 30-year veteran of the fair.

"It's very, very special to come to Children's," Trash said. "When you're a performer, there's a give and take of energy. When you leave Children's Hospital after performing for the kids and the moms and dads, your cup is filled up."

Troy Bahr is one of the dads Trash is referring to, his 10-year-old daughter, Lily, already having had to go through over 20 surgeries for stomach issues. He's grateful for events like Tuesday's fair experience.

"It hurts bad, waking up every day knowing she's going through this and there's nothing I can really do," Bahr said. "This is wonderful. This is nice to her. It takes her mind off of stuff. Seeing her happy like this is a lot."

Mission accomplished for Scott and her team.

"When kids can truly act like themselves, they can play, they can have those normal experiences that they'd be having outside the hospital, they heal faster. They cope with the things we're having to do here much better, families feel safer," Scott said. "Anything we can do to make families whole and to make kids, kids. This is exactly what an event like this does."