Huge crowd entertained and educated about dairy in New Mexico

Story by Molly Smith and photos by Teresa Ward of ADM Laboratories

The Curry County Event Center in Clovis, New Mexico, hosted its largest gathering of people since opening in April with more than 9,000 people attending the 4th Annual DairyFest in late June. Educational booths, kid games, two concerts and, of course, any dairy product you can imagine were all a part of the festivities.

DairyFest is a local celebration of June as national dairy month and a way of saying thank you to local communities for their continued support of the dairy industry. For $1, visitors could attend the event and learn about what it takes to milk a cow, all the way from trimming her hooves (Cow Pedicure) to shipping the milk (Moovin’ Milk Safely). The public also learned about the beef industry and Southwest Cheese Inc. They also watched an actual cow be milked in the Milk Mobile Classroom provided by the Southwest Dairy Museum.

At the conclusion of the event, visitors sat back, relaxed and sang to the many hits of the Fun Brothers and Sammy Kershaw all while eating cheeseburgers, string cheese, ice cream sandwiches, yogurt and drinking milk. PD

 

Above: A young attendee sporting his milk mustache sticker.

 

Above: Many of the 9,000 DairyFest attendees stayed for the Sammy Kershaw concert in the evening.

 

Above: Josh Wooley and Devanee Cherry pass out Milk Mustache stickers for children attending DairyFest.

 

 

Above: 140 lunchroom-size milk cartons display the amount of milk a single cow produces per day.