Thank you to our loyal NHCC members, volunteers, cheese industry supporters, and friends of NHCC for making the year 2022 a most successful year! Looking forward to “Opening Day” May 4, 2023!
It was the day before Christmas Eve and while helping out in the cheese store I heard a heck of a commotion out in the parking lot. I walked out in the driveway and here is Kris Kringle driving a 1949 bright red two door suburban. She was decked out with laker pipes that had quite a rumble!!
A group of 20 friends, unexpectedly, arrived early one morning to tour our museum and were greeted by ”surprised” NHCC docents. For the last 17 years, the group has met in various places in the Midwest. This year they selected Monroe, New Glarus, and Mt. Horeb for their getaways.
NHCC turned up the heat on Thursday, Jan. 14 for 10 exchange students from Argentina, accompanied by Juda High School English teacher, Jane Brewer. They had lunch at the famous Baumgartner’s Cheese Store and Restaurant….with many eating grilled SWISS cheese sandwiches (no one “braved’ trying LIMBURGER!). The students informed Executive Director Donna Douglas that it was 105 degrees in their hometown of Buenos Aires, that day!
So, it was one sunny afternoon and this massive shiny red 58 Chevy Impala shows up in my driveway, and out pops Kris Kringle. He is laughing hysterically at the look on my face looking at his car. I asked him what he was up to on this fine fall day. He said he has had an issue that he thought he should bring to my attention. He said I have an uncle that I do not know about. He told me he is just an ornery old Koot and nothing Kris does cheers him up. I ask him who the heck it was, thinking I know all my relatives.
Docent Virgil Leopold, left, a retired educator, kept a group of Rock County Home School students enthralled by the history of cheese when the group visited the National Historic Cheesemaking Center recently.
I recently visited the Dairy Innovation Hub (DIH) operations at UW-Platteville for an update on their projects and progress. As you may recall, I led a legislative effort to fund the DIH in the 2019-21 state budget. This innovative idea was developed by the Dairy Task Force 2.0 and is a top priority for dairy and agriculture in Wisconsin to remain a dairy superpower.
It has been an interesting and fun-filled couple of recent weeks. Your president just today completed a series of four presentations relating to the “Fascinating History of The Swiss Colony.” Backstory: About six weeks ago the local Monroe Library asked me to be part of their summer historical series of talks on the lawn. So yours truly did the first one at the Cheese Center, followed by two more at local retirement/nursing facilities, and one at a local service club.
At a recent Executive Board meeting, director Steve Stettler kindly chided director Fritz Kopp into putting into words his life story. Well Fritz did and you will find interesting reading on Page 4. And wouldn’t you know it, Fritz, who is one of our lead docents, even made it to the new “Timeline of Cheesemaking” display in our museum.
Wow, the summer is speeding by, and NHCC continues to gather visitors from the USA and abroad. At latest count we have had folks from 38 states sign the guest register.
