Organic Valley, the nation’s largest cooperative of organic farmers, is gearing up to host its ninth annual Kickapoo Country Fair, taking place 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday, July 28 in La Farge, Wis. Nestled amid the steep hills and coulees of southwestern Wisconsin’s Driftless region, this year’s Kickapoo Country Fair will attract thousands to a day-long festival of growing, cooking, eating and sharing food, together.
Annual Kickapoo Country Fair goers know to expect lots of family fun, and this year’s Fair is no exception. In addition to kid favorites like ice cream making, face painting, and a petting zoo of farm animals, kids can go for the gold in farmer Olympics; learn about cooperation with giant stretchy bands and parachutes; and smell, touch and taste safe, wild plants with herbal educators. Older guests can learn how to raise backyard chickens, forage for wild mushrooms, keep bees, make pesto, and savor local beer and cheese pairings. People of all ages can chow down on delicious, organic, local food and New Orleans rock-n-roll band Cowboy Mouth will perform on the main stage at 7 p.m.
“Each year, as we prepare for the Kickapoo Country Fair I am reminded that the Fair started out much in the way our cooperative did, as a small, meaningful gathering of community,” said George Siemon, C-E-I-E-I-O for Organic Valley and one of its founding farmers. “In its ninth year, it’s become a larger gathering, but with that same cooperative spirit with neighbors and visitors. I’m pleased to welcome such sustainable food advocates as Raj Patel to the fair, and look forward to celebrating this rural tradition.”
“More and more evidence points to the fact that cooperative, organic farming can build communities and save the environment,” said Patel. “The more we learn, the more the question changes from ‘Can we feed the world organically’ to ‘How will we feed the world, organically and better, together?’”
Patel, Kimbrell Take Center Stage
Raj Patel will take the main stage at 1 p.m. Patel is a strong voice for creating a fairer society and sustainable economy, particularly as it relates to food production and consumption. His latest book, The Value of Nothing: How to Reshape Market Society and Redefine Democracy, explores our nation’s economic structure and the recent collapse. He is also the author of Stuffed and Starved: The Hidden Battle for the World Food System, which discusses the worldwide food crisis and what needs to be done to solve it. Patel’s work has also appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Newsweek, NPR and BBC.
Andrew Kimbrell will address fairgoers at 2:30 p.m. on the main stage. Founder and executive director of the Center for Food Safety and the International Center for Technology Assessment in Washington, DC, Kimbrell is one of the country’s leading environmental attorneys and an author of numerous books and articles on environment, technology and society, and food issues. His recent books include Your Right to Know: Genetic Engineering and the Secret Changes in Your Food, Fall Harvest: The Tragedy of Industrial Agriculture and The Human Body Shop: The Engineering and Marketing of Life. In 2007, Kimbrell was named one of the 50 people most likely to save the planet by The Guardian-U.K.
Chef Nischan Stirs Up Foodie Fun
Fair goers will get their Kickapoo Kitchen on with Chef Michel Nischan, sustainable food pioneer, restaurant owner, award-winning cookbook author and PBS celebrity chef, in a hands-on workshop whipping up culinary tastes at 4:30 p.m. in the workshop/demo tent. Other chefs and cookbook authors will lead workshops and teach cooking techniques, such as kitchen herb gardening, vegetable fermentation, soft cheese making, creating a great pork rub and DIY pig butchering. This year’s “Practically Green” tent features a series of lifestyle workshops that provide practical green living ideas and advice fair-goers can implement at home, including edible landscaping, grafting and budding fruit trees, beekeeping and advice for raising backyard chickens.
Tickets and Logistics
Passes providing access to all Kickapoo Country Fair activities are only $5 for adults, $2 for kids 12 and under, and free for kids five and under. Free food sampling occurs all day long, including pesto, meats and the popular beer and cheese pairings.
For those interested in making it a weekend affair, camp or stay the night at one of the local campgrounds, bed & breakfasts or country cabins, then return to the fair grounds for an all you can eat organic breakfast at Organic Valley’s Milky Way Café on Sunday, July 29 from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. Cost is $8 for adults, $5 for kids 12 and under and free for kids three and under. After breakfast, explore all the beautiful Driftless region has to offer: kayak or canoe the Kickapoo River (rentals available in nearby towns), hike and bike through the lush, green hills of the Kickapoo Valley Reserve, and more.
Organic Valley hosts the Kickapoo Country Fair with support from more than 75 local businesses and organizations, including the Wisconsin Farmers Union’s Kamp Kenwood and the Kickapoo Valley Reserve.
For more information about the event, including the official schedule and area lodging information, or to purchase tickets, visit www.kickapoocountryfair.org, or find the fair on Facebook at www.facebook.com/KickapooCountryFair.
Organic Valley: Independent and Farmer Owned
Organic Valley is America’s largest cooperative of organic farmers and one of the nation’s leading organic brands. Organized in 1988, it represents 1,723 farmers in 35 states and three Canadian provinces, and achieved $715 million in 2011 sales. Focused on its founding mission of saving family farms through organic farming, Organic Valley produces a variety of organic foods, including organic milk, soy, cheese, butter, spreads, creams, eggs, produce and juice, which are sold in supermarkets, natural foods stores and food cooperatives nationwide. With its regional model, milk is produced, bottled and distributed right in the region where it is farmed to ensure fewer miles from farm to table and to support our local economies. The same farmers who produce for Organic Valley also produce a full range of delicious organic meat under the Organic Prairie label. For further information, call 1-888-444-MILK or visit www.organicvalley.coop, www.organicprairie.coop and the cooperative’s farmer website, www.farmers.coop. Organic Valley is also on Twitter @OrganicValley and Facebook www.facebook.com/OrganicValley.