Call it the original World Dairy Expo road show.
After a rocky start, World Dairy Expo was rebranded in just its third year and it needed a public relations campaign. That's when Arbor Rose Chat Expo came on the scene as the show's first bovine spokesmodel.
Arriving via airplane from Portland, Ore., the Brown Swiss calf "Chat Expo" was named specifically for the role headlined in the 1969 sale to raise additional funds for World Dairy Expo. Originally hailing from Scappoose, Ore., Chat Expo made her way through the Midwest countryside promoting the show to bolster attendance later that fall after selling at the April 12, 1969, sale.
Orchestrating the entire event was Norman Magnussen Sr., who coordinated both the 1967 and 1969 sales that gave World Dairy Expo its seed money (1967) and jump start (1969).
To learn more, listen to this August 14, 2014, audio captured during an interview in Lake Mills, Wis., from Magnussen's sons Gary and Norm Jr. The person asking the questions is yours truly as we set out to produce We Need A Show, the 212-page book on the 50 years of World Dairy Expo.
To order your copy of We Need A Show, follow the highlighted link.
August 29, 2016
