More than 400,000 fairgoers will be able to enjoy the new Grilled Bacon Mac and Cheese sandwich, visit the butter cow and view daily cow milking demonstrations at the Missouri State Fair this year as Missouri dairy farmers work to bring dairy to life and share their dairy farm stories as part of this annual tradition.
“Dairy farmers are proud of their undeniably dairy traditions at the Missouri State Fair,” said Stacy Dohle, Midwest Dairy’s Missouri State Fair project manager. “Celebrating dairy farmers’ devotion to dairy makes it easy to bring new experiences to the fair. This year we’re excited to serve up the ‘Bacon Mac’ – made with macaroni and cheese, topped with pieces of bacon and grilled in a sandwich press – which is the first new menu item we’ve offered in several years.”
Dairy foods will be front and center at the Gerken Dairy Center, located at the northeast corner of the fairgrounds, and one of the State Fair’s most popular concessions owned by the state’s dairy farm families. The building is open daily from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. The Gerken Dairy Center serves 19 hand-dipped ice cream flavors, shakes and grilled cheese sandwiches. In 2017, about 1,800 gallons of hand-dipped ice cream treats were served throughout the fair.
The Gerken Dairy Center already has a lot to offer, but if you want more – check out the butter cow this year. Tracey Adams, a potter by trade from Reeds Spring, Missouri, returns to sculpt 600 pounds of unsalted butter into a scene depicting “Bessie’s First Driving Lesson.” It is Adams’ third year carving the butter sculpture.
Fair-goers can watch and learn about the process of milking a cow every day at 9:30 a.m. and 6 p.m. outside the Gerken Dairy Center. Although the general population is not allowed to hand-milk a live cow, Midwest Dairy provides a model milking cow where anyone can try out their milking talent in the Ag Building.
Each year, the Missouri State Fair celebrates the more than 1,000 dairy farmers in the state who are contributing 22,279 jobs and delivering an overall economic impact of $15.99 billion for dairy products produced and sold in Missouri. To learn more about dairy farming in the Midwest, including in Missouri, visit MidwestDairy.com.
Midwest Dairy™ represents 7,000 dairy farm families and works on their behalf to build dairy demand by inspiring consumer confidence in our products and production practices. We are committed to Bringing Dairy to Life! by Giving Consumers an Excellent Dairy Experience and are funded by farmers across a 10-state region, including Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas and eastern Oklahoma. For more information, visit MidwestDairy.com. Follow us on Twitter and find us on Facebook at Midwest Dairy.
