| Back when "buy
local" was really the only option if you wanted to eat
(and not a marketing mantra), and long before "foodie
tourism" was a buzzword term, the people of Green County,
Wisconsin created a festival based on local cheese. More than
3,000 visitors traveled by train, horse and carriage, and
Model T Ford to attend the first festival in 1914.
Join us on the third weekend of September in
even years for Green County Cheese Days, the oldest food festival
in the Midwest – honoring cheesemaking, dairy farming,
and the Swiss traditions that are deeply rooted in the heritage
of this region.
For nearly 100 years, Monroe’s Historic
Courthouse Square has served as a scenic backdrop to the festival
grounds, with a celebration attracting crowds of revelers
ready to yodel, polka, and consume cheese by the truckload.
Attendance today at this every-other-year event is estimated
at more than 150,000 people – including regional, national,
and international visitors.
Highlights of the weekend include: Three entertainment
stages - Main Stage (yodeling, alphorns, polka bands, accordions,
polka lessons), Hospitality Tent Stage ("So You Think
You Can Polka" Polka Contest, Yodeling Lessons, Cheese
and Beer Pairing Seminars, Product Sampling with The Swiss
Colony, Cheese & Beer Bread Recipe Contest Judging), and
the Huber Bock Stage at Minhas Craft Brewery (Huber Bock &
Blues Festival); "Taste of Green County" Food Booths
(local specialties like deep fried cheese curds, cream puffs,
and cheesecake on-a-stick), Beer Garden (featuring New Glarus
Brewing Co. and Minhas Craft Brewery), Arts & Crafts Fair,
Carnival, Vintage Tractor Show, Old-time Copper Kettle Cheesemaking
Demonstration, Cow Milking Contest, Family Farm Adventure
Tent, Children’s Parade led by the Cheese Days Prince
and Princess, Kid's Arts and Imagination Station, Dairy Farm
and Barn Quilt Tours, and The Swiss Colony Cheese Days Parade
– led off with a herd of decorated Brown Swiss cattle.
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