Cactus Club

Illinois State Fair Dairy Products Bldg.

Outside of the Dairy Building, 2003

Lois and I operated the Dairy Products Building for 34 years. It was work. We hired around 35 young people. Some of them stayed as long as 14 years (Tracy)..some for 11 (Roger). Lois did the decorating, planning and the hiring. I did the "boy type" work...the refrigeration, building games for children and selling space. In 2003 we decided it was time to turn it over to someone else, so we gave management our notice. We have hundreds of photos...we can't show them all here but let's start with a few and add more later.
The chairs in front of the Dairy Prod. Building pictured here are for the Press Preview Party that is conducted each year on the fairgrounds.

Slideshow

Cleaning the butter off the frame!. One of my jobvs was to pressure wash the "butter cow" frame after each fair. We would save the butter (if possible) and Prairie farms would freeze it for the next year. Obviously, there was still a lot of butter that had to be thorougly cleaned off.
This was one of my jobs. It took us almost a week to put the Dairy Products Building in clean shape for the next year.
Jim and Sandee Riba's Display. A feature of the Dairy Building was the bottle display by Sandee and Jim Riba of Springfield, IL. (J and J Electric Motor Service). Here Jim attaches one of our signs to the beautiful display cabinets he supplied for the bottles.
They were great co-workers in putting on a show like this! Were grateful for all they did.
Fairgoers Loved The Bottle Display. Each year Sandee Riba would select a different theme for their bottle display. Fairgoers loved remembering the various bottles. Some are very valuable!
Marilyn Raney and Rick Montgomery. Here the Superintendent of Sales, Marilyn Raney and Rick Montgomery, a helper, check out an Antique Display we incorporated into the building in 2003!
Film Crew, "Pats of Glory" with the Butter Cow. The Butter Cow has been a tradition since 1922 in the Dairy Building. Mrs. Norma Lyon of Toledo, IA sculpted it out of 500 pounds of butter for about 32 years. This photo shows Mrs. Nancy Hise and her husband who sculpted the '03 cow...along with the film crew who were doing a documentary on "butter cows." Prairie Farms supplied the unsalted butter. (It draws less moisture than salted.)
Gene Trimble and the Clown Band. These guys have been a tradition at the Illinois State Fair for many years. They roam the fairgrounds with music and stunts.
Kelly Kent filling cream puffs w/ real whipped cream.. Kelly is a great worker! Enthusiastic, too!
Norma Link and Jean Stubblefield. Now retired, these ladies helped us when we were starting out as we knew nothing about the ropes of State Fair... Norma Link was in charge of Space Sales and Jean Stubblefield was Supt. of Competitive Events.
Tracy (Madison) Wietzel and Lois. Tracy started working with us when she was 14 and stayed with us year after year for 14 or 15 years. She is now married to an Air Force Fighter pilot and they have two beautiful daughters.
Tracy managed the game hostesses and the Milkshake Counter employees. Great job in every way! Thanks Tracy!

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