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Ag Showcase Schedule of Events • 9:30 a.m. – Brian Carter, |
“The Meeting Place,” with its bistro-style décor, will serve as the wine, microbrew, non-alcoholic beverage and cheese-sampling area. Woods Floral is working with the Showcase committee in designing and decorating the area. Agri-Land Cooperative is hosting a fun-filled Barnyard Petting Zoo. Visitors will be able to pet and play with a variety of animals, including a miniature donkey, calf, pygmy goats, piglets, lambs, chicks, kittens, dogs, rabbits and ducks. The youth coloring contest is being sponsored by Badgerland Financial, WE Energies and Agri-Land Cooperative. A copy of the drawing for the coloring contest is located in today’s Action Advertiser and will also be available at the Showcase. Entries must be received by 1:30 p.m., the day of the Showcase. Becky Wagner, agronomist with the Fond du Lac County Land and Water Conservation Department, will teach youth about water quality and soil erosion by making edible dirt cups, using ingredients such as pudding, M & M’s, Cookies and Gummy Worms. Her presentation will take place at 11 a.m. The Ag Showcase is being chaired by Randy Kunsman, executive director for the Fond du Lac and Green Lake County Farm Service Agency. The co-chair is Rae Nell Halbur, a Wisconsin Farm Report staff reporter with Pam Jahnke, and a local dairy farmer. Brenda Gudex, Director of Agricultural Programs with the Fond du Lac Area Association of Commerce, oversees the Ag Showcase. Kunsman said the purpose of the Showcase is to show the relationship between everyday life and agriculture and how the agriculture industry plays a significant part in everyone’s everyday life. He feels the highlight of the event is the opportunity it provides to be able to watch the stage activities and exhibits and be a part of the wine and cheese tasting. It also gives people the opportunity to view and sample locally-produced products that directly relate to agriculture. A staunch supporter of the agriculture industry, Halbur sees the Showcase as an opportunity to broaden the community’s knowledge of where their food comes from, using a hands-on approach. She noted the Ag Showcase is farmer-funded through Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board participation. “It’s an opportunity for people in the Fond du Lac area to see how agriculture affects them,” Halbur said. According to Gudex, planning for the event goes on year-round. With close to 200 volunteers involved, she said she’s just part of the background working to educate the consumer through event activities. “People have to realize agriculture isn’t just dairy farming. Normally when you think of agriculture, you don’t think of extracting DNA from wheat. Everything I do, whether professionally or personally, is involved in agriculture. We have to spread the word,” Gudex said. |
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