Alice in Dairyland visits Glenwood City Schools for annual Dairy Day

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By Renee Bettendorf

GLENWOOD CITY- Ashley Hagenow, the 76th Alice in Dairyland, attended the second annual Glenwood City School District Dairy Day last week where she spoke with students about Wisconsin agriculture.

Kirsten Konder, Agriculture Teacher at Glenwood City School, tried to book Alice in Dairyland for the event last year. But ‘Alice’ has a busy schedule and this year Konder was excited to schedule the famous Wisconsin ag spokesperson.

“I was very enthused to get this opportunity,” said Konder of the long awaited visit.

The Glenwood City FFA officer team created Dairy Day last year to educate students on the importance of the dairy industry since June Dairy Month occurs when the students are not in school, said Konder.

In addition to visiting with Alice, students were able to learn more about the dairy industry within the classroom and were also treated to a farm to table style school lunch that day. 

“The FFA chapter reached out to numerous dairy businesses that donated products so that we could have a fresh dairy themed lunch for the entire school body,” said Konder.

Businesses that donated food included; carrots and green beans from Lakeside Foods of New Richmond, butter and cheese from Land O’ Lakes, fresh cheese curds from Ellsworth Cooperative Creamery, string cheese from Cady Cheese (Burnett Dairy), and freshly shredded colby jack cheese from Associated Milk Producers Inc.

Alice did lots of ag promotion during her visit. She spoke to the Glenwood City FFA Chapter about her role and opportunities in agriculture. She also did presentations in an animal science class and for the fourth graders. 

Since its first year, which was in 1948, the goal of Alice in Dairyland has been to find an official spokesperson for the dairy industry, said Hagenow. During its early years, Alice in Dairyland was more like a pageant.

It’s now a full time one year career with each Alice being employed by the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection. To become an Alice requires a several month long application process which includes many interviews and agricultural training sessions.

“It’s a really fun process, you learn lots about ag,” said Hagenow of her journey to becoming Alice.

During a presentation to middle schoolers, Hagenow spoke about the many different agricultural industries in the state including dairy, beef, cranberries, potatoes, ginseng, mink, snap beans and whey to name a few.

According to Hagenow, Wisconsin agriculture in general is about a $105 billion dollar a year operation which creates about 435,000 jobs. Farmers in Wisconsin export their products to many countries throughout the world. 

And Hagenow got to see that export process first hand when she went with the Ginseng Board of WI to China last month to promote Wisconsin Ginseng. While touring China, Hagenow and the Ginseng Board visited several Chinese cities and met with ginseng sellers and consumers.

Aside from a bit of international travel, generally an Alice logs between 45,000 and 50,000 miles each year on Wisconsin roads. She attends media events, county fairs, the state fair, Farm Technology Days and any other ag related event that she can fit into her schedule. She also participates in several ag youth programs.

The vehicle an Alice drives is provided by the WI Corn Promotion Board. The current Alice vehicle is a 2023 Ford Explorer that runs on E-88 fuel, which is 15% ethanol. The SUV, which is named Tassie, has quite the paint job featuring a barn, silos, and a corn field.

“I travel in style,” said Hagenow.

After her presentation, Hagenow fielded questions from middle school students such as: “what is your opinion on cheese?” and “what do you like better, cheeseburgers or hamburgers?”. 

Hagenow replied that she prefers cheeseburgers over hamburgers and “the more cheese the merrier”.