Booth serving milkshakes at Clark County Fair only fundraiser for local group
By Rachel Pinsky
Published: August 3, 2018, 6:01am
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A cookies and cream milkshake from the Clark County Dairy Women booth at the Clark County Fair Photo Gallery
The main reason I go to the Clark County Fair every year is to get a milkshake from the Clark County Dairy Women’s booth. For many years, I have wondered, “Who are these milkshake masters?”
I imagined a matriarchal dairy utopia, with happy dancing cows and milkshakes flowing from marble fountains.
But no.
The Clark County Dairy Women, which have been here since the 1950s, is a chapter of the state group dedicated to promoting dairies and educating the public about the health benefits of dairy products.
The booth at the Clark County Fair is the local organization’s only fundraiser. Merry Woodside, booth manager, has been a member since 1969. At that time, Clark County had 80 dairy farms; now there are just four. Woodside told me, “Now, most of us don’t have a working dairy farm, but we still believe in the dairy community.”
Despite dwindling dairies, the group has a good-size core of members (about 25) who attend monthly meetings, work on community service projects during the year and run the fair booth during the first full week of August.
Despite decades of working this busy booth, Woodside still looks forward to it. She told me, “We’re just so happy to be able to do this every year. It’s a real treat to be at the fair.”
The booth used to be staffed only by Dairy Women , but over the years the Dairy Women added nonprofit volunteers to their staffing. Youth groups, church groups and 4-H groups volunteer in the booth. In exchange for their hard work, they receive a portion of the proceeds.
Terri Johnson, who has been with the Dairy Women since 1976, told me, “This booth is all volunteer run. I think that’s pretty incredible. It’s pretty incredible for us to be able to support nonprofit organizations.”
The lines at the booth are frequently long. “We try to move the line as fast as we can, but we are limited by the amount of machines we have,” Johnson said. “We can only make so many milkshakes at a time. We haven’t had too many complaints; everyone seems happy to wait.”
According to Woodside, “We have a lot of loyal, loyal fans. We have people who say they come from Texas. They don’t mind waiting in line.”
The Dairy Women sell around 17,000 shakes each summer. The secret to their great milkshakes is a high butterfat milk base (this year, it’s from Alpenrose Dairy) with high quality syrups and fresh fruit. As Woodside explained to me, “We believe in good quality products, good fruit, and that makes a good milkshake.”
Peach is the number one seller, but a lot of people like chocolate or plain old vanilla. Cookies-and-cream (with Oreo cookie bits and chocolate syrup) was added a few years ago. Woodside likes the strawberry. Johnson is a bit more adventurous — she likes one scoop of peach, one scoop of raspberry. The Dairy Women don’t plan to add any new flavors this year (why mess with perfection?), but they will have a special cup to celebrate the fair’s 150th anniversary.
Info
• Clark County Dairy Women Milkshake Booth: bit.ly/2mYtkZD
