Every Dairy State Needs a Queen

June in Wisconsin means June Dairy Month. That's right, "America's Dairyland" has a special month devoted to dairy. It's perfectly reasonable to think this unnecessary since isn't every month about dairy in a state that has chosen to label itself as such? Well, no, apparently it's not enough. We need to have dairy farm breakfasts all over the state, to put cows up by the state capitol, and to have the opportunity to meet Alice in Dairyland, Wisconsin's dairy royalty.

Alice in Dairyland peddles cheese

I recently recorded an essay for "Wisconsin Life" about Alice, linking these agricultural queens to fertility goddesses of yore (thankfully, I didn't actually use the word "yore" in my story). Sure, she began as a kind of beauty queen but the role has evolved into more of a marketing job. You can't just represent dairy anymore--you actually have to work for it.

Talking about Alice at work, a coworker wondered why there's no male dairy royalty. Perhaps Albert in Dairyland? I wouldn't want to unseat Alice from her absolute reign so perhaps he could be a consort ala Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh?