Fighting Bob Fests I-VII have been graced with many heroes. The late Senator Paul Simon, RFK, Jr., Russ Feingold, Amy Goodman, Phil Donahue, Cindy Sheehan, Doris "Granny D" Haddock, Members of Congress: Gwen Moore, Tom Harkin, Bernie Sanders, Tammy Baldwin, John Conyers, and David Obey; Green Party presidential candidates Cynthia McKinney and David Cobb, Ralph Nader, Congressman and presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich; and, what would a Wisconsin Chautauqua be without Stan Gruszynski, John Nichols, Bob McChesney, Mike McCabe and the nation’s favorite populist, Jim Hightower?

1,200 attended our first Fest; year two saw 2,500, year three over 4,000, and so on. In 2008 around 10,000 jammed the fairgrounds. People are inspired by great speakers and from the knowledge that, as they look around, they are not alone in fighting the good fight. While some say we preach to the choir, we say the choir needs inspiration as well. And we have fun!

My role? I keep the program rolling on time. So, come, enjoy, participate, raise hell, and take words into action. See you in Baraboo.

Ed Garvey
Editor and Publisher of FightingBob.com

Mar 18, 2009
Now accepting Booth Applications

Would your local organization like to distribute literature to educate like-minded progressives about your cause? If so, a booth space at Fighting Bob Fest would be the perfect venue for you!

It just so happens that we are now accepting Booth Applications for the 2009 Fighting Bob Fest and the spots are filling up fast!

Booth space includes one 8’ x 2.5’ foot table and two folding chairs located in the Commercial Building at the Sauk County Fairgrounds on the day on the fest.

Each booth can be reserved for $100.00. Your booth fee helps to cover the costs of renting the fairgrounds, bringing in our great list of speakers, and the publicity that brings thousands of people to Bob Fest and past your table each year.

To register, please follow the instructions on our Booth Registration page. Once we receive your application, your organization will be featured on our website as an exhibitor on our Booths page. 

Pre-registration for the festival is also available online! If you and other members of your organization are planning on attending, please pre-register to help us as we plan the event. On the pre-registration form, you can also indicate if you or other members are interested in volunteering.

We are pleased to announce that Fighting Bob Fest VIII will be held on September 12, 2009, at the Sauk County Fairgrounds in Baraboo, Wisconsin.

Now that the date is set and we have the venue, we are working hard to bring you an outstanding line up of speakers. If you would like to see a particular speaker come to Bob Fest VIII, we welcome your nominations. You can nominate speakers by emailing us at comments@fightingbob.com.

You can also feel free to pre-register beforehand on our website, forward this newsletter on to your friends and family, and check back with us often, as we will be announcing speakers once confirmed.

And, if you need some last minute holiday gift ideas, check out our new Fest Store, where you can purchase all of your favorite Fighting Bob Fest merchandise, including a complete DVD set of all the FBF 2008 speeches, T-shirts, reusable shopping bags, and of course, Progressive Mustard! All sales proceeds go towards the costs associated with putting on the Fest.

Season’s greetings to all of you on behalf of our entire staff!

We've received your email requests for speech transcripts from the wonderful speakers who inspired us at this year's Fighting Bob Fest.   We are working hard on getting all of those too you, and thought we would start out by giving you the call to action from Granny D, asking us to help make publicly funded campaigns a reality in Wisconsin, and Arvonne Fraser, reminding us that government is an awesome responsibility in which we all play a part, however, elections do not a democracy make, human rights do.

Fighting Bob Fest is an annual Chautauqua featuring progressive speakers, networking opportunities, and entertainment. Fighting Bob Fest carries on the tradition of Robert “Fighting Bob” La Follette by providing a forum for progressive ideas on issues facing Wisconsin and the nation.

Freedom and justice are defended through education, and the exchange of ideas promotes solidarity among progressives. To this end, Fighting Bob Fest strives to provide citizens with a forum for democratic participation where frustrations with current policies can be constructively molded into calls to action.