Monroe, Wisconsin
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Today was the ultimate Wisconsin day...we went to the
Green County Cheese Days.
This celebration of cheese has been going on since 1914. Now held every other year, we thanked our lucky stars that we were in the right place at the right time. We met locals who haven't missed a Cheese Days since their childhood as well as folks from surrounding states that were eager to partake of the revelry and the cheese.
We watched the parade from the bleachers, bought cheesewear, sampled the best of Green County cheese, and tried local specialities such as creme puffs; grilled peanut butter, jelly and cheese; deep fried cheese curds, and Limburger cheese sandwiches (darned good!).
Ted sampled the local brews from
New Glarus and
Minhas breweries and we topped off our culinary adventure with the ubiquitous Wisconsin brots and landjaegers.
We peeked inside the
Goetz Theatre, a classic Midwestern
atmospheric theatre built in 1931.
Then we toured the
Minhas Craft Brewery, the oldest brewery in the Midwest.
At the end of the tour, we met one of the owners of the brewery as well as
Herb and Helen Haydock, founders of the
Haydock World of Beer Memorabilia Museum.
It was such a pleasure to chat with the Haydocks and learn more about their extensive collection. As Herb said, "Everybody's got to collect something. It's not about the collecting; it's about the people you meet, the places you travel to, and the stories you hear." We couldn't agree more! Indeed, our favorite part of Cheese Days was the warm embrace of the people we met.
We wrapped up the day at town favorite,
Baumgartner's, for one last taste of Green County specialties before heading back to our motel in Verona.
What a delightful, delicious and memorable day!
--Ted and Laura
Love the pictures of Cheese Days! Yum, it looks delicious and like lots of fun. Like the looks of the Brewery too.
ReplyDeleteAh, now we see first hand where the Cheese Days apparel came from that greeted us at the Rapid City, SD airport! FUN!!!