Chenango County Dairy Day is a free celebration and will be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., July 18, at the Chenango County Fairgrounds, located at 168 East Main Street in Norwich. (Photo by Kelli Miller)

NORWICH — Chenango County Dairy Day is a free celebration and will be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., July 18, at the Chenango County Fairgrounds, located at 168 East Main Street in Norwich.

Dairy Day is normally held in June, but this year Cornell Cooperative Extension’s (CCE) Open Farm Day and Dairy Day are sharing the date, and hope visitors take the entire day to learn, enjoy activities, and visit local farms.

Chairman of Ag and Farmland Protection Board and Dairy Day committee member Terry Ives said events will include peddle tractor pull, duck derby, a demonstration for cheese making, petting zoo, hay bale maze, farm Olympics, the traditional milk giveaway, and also giving away dixie cup ice cream in the afternoon.

“There will be a cow milking contest but we’re still working that out," Ives said. "We were thinking of having a milk chugging contest but that could be a little harder to do.”

The Afton FFA will set up a lemonade stand with fresh squeezed state fair lemonade and offer face painting.

Also, attendees can visit with community groups such as CCE, Chenango County 4-H, Farm Bureau, Habitat for Humanity, Chenango County Grange, and the Fennimore Farm from Cooperstown. 

“The day is so important because less than two percent of the population is growing the food,” said Ives.

“There is a big disconnect as to where our food comes from and we feel it's important to share all about ag and provide education about dairy and farming," he said.

"When you get into urban areas, the food will be there, just go to the store," he continued. "But when you're in the country and go to farmers’ markets, you will find fresh food from nearby farms." 

It's also worth noting, July is National Ice Cream Month and being a dairy product, Ives reminds everyone to enjoy eating some ice cream in celebration.

He pointed to the large fake cow that is usually at Dairy Day and said it will not be at the event this year as someone hid it last year and it took some time to find it.

Ives also said the coloring contest will not be part of the event this year as it was handled through the school and this year, school will be out, but they will have coloring books and crayons for the kids. 

He said he's not sure they will have Dairy Day coincide with Open Farm Day in July next year but will let this play out before they make that decision.

Committee member and Dairy Day Organizer Marge Davis said Dairy Day is always a free family event and is run completely on donations and volunteers.

“It’s done by a group of people that have a deep love of agriculture and a concern for the future of the generations to come,” said Davis.

“We want to preserve some of the traditions, but we certainly want to install an awareness and appreciation with the general public about where the food comes from and where the milk comes from and what is good wholesome quality food,” she said.

Dairy Day committee member Karen Hoffman will again this year, create the kids' hay bale maze and said, “We’ve never lost a kid in the maze yet.”

Hoffman shared a story about recently talking with a young adult in his early 20’s. He told her great memories of he and his mother at Dairy Day and said he was glad it's still going.

One of the things Hoffman likes about the day is they have touched different generations of families over the years, and said, "It's not like we just educated a bunch of people in the early 2000’s, we’ve been doing this for 26 years."

"People that were kids when we started this are now adults and can bring their children to Dairy Day and experience agriculture in Chenango County and what it's all about," Hoffman said.

"We could definitely use some more young people to help because Terry, Marge and I are not getting any younger, so if there is somebody out there that remembers coming or has a real passion for teaching people about agriculture, we would love to have them join the committee," she added.

The first Dairy Day was held in June 1941, only to be discontinued due to the war. It was brought back in 2001 to celebrate the 60th  anniversary of the 1941 event.

A group of Chenango County farmers and other individuals put Dairy Day together and included Town of Otselic farmers Marjorie and Stan Davis.

To volunteer, call Terry Ives at 607-287-7383, Karen Hoffman at 607-316-0229, or Marge Davis at 315-837-4741.