This Saturday is Dairy Day, the annual celebration of the history and continued importance of Chenango County’s largest industry: Agriculture.
This year’s Dairy Day promises to be “a ton of fun for everyone,” according to Janet Pfromm of Cornell Cooperative Extension of Chenango County who helps coordinate the event.
Now in its ninth year, Dairy Day is sponsored annually by Chenango County Dairy Promotion. The event will feature a parade, family-friendly activities for kids of all ages, plenty of farm animals and, of course, lots of dairy products.
The day will kick off with the 3rd Annual Milk Run, a 5K run which starts and ends at the Chenango County Fairgrounds in Norwich. Although the early registration deadline has passed, Pfromm assured that entries will be taken up until just prior to the run’s 9:30 a.m. start. The entry fee for the event is $10 per runner, proceeds from which will benefit the Dairy Promotion Committee. Prizes will be awarded for the top finishers in each of the four divisions: Youth female, youth male, adult female and adult male.
The Dairy Day Parade will begin at 11 a.m., with floats lining up at the P & C parking lot and proceeding down East Main Street to the fairgrounds. The parade will be lead by local dignitaries including Assemblyman Cliff Crouch and Norwich Mayor Joe Maiurano. Other participants will include the Puckerville Pullers antique tractor club, the Smyrna Citizens Band, the Bainbridge Old Time Band, Red Barn Alpacas, the Dairy Ambassadors, 4-H Clubs, scouting groups, school groups and farm animals. Many ag related businesses will also be joining the parade this year, including Coventry Transport, Cazenovia Equipment and Schwann.
New this year will be Upstate Farms, which will be handing out samples of “intense” chocolate milk.
“If you miss the parade, they’ll still be there handing out milk (at the fairgrounds),” said parade coordinator Karen Hoffman, an animal scientist with the USDA Service Center in Norwich.
Upstate Farms will be one of more than twenty exhibitors at the fairgrounds for Dairy Day, which will be open to the public at no charge from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Many of those exhibitors will be either sampling or selling their wares.
Another addition this year will be Critz Farms from Cazenovia. According to Pfromm, they will be bringing their Cow Train and providing free rides around the fairgrounds.
Also new will be New York Beef “Sundaes:” A scoop of mashed potatoes topped with shredded beef in gravy, a dollop of sour cream and a sprinkling of shredded cheese with a cherry tomato on top.
