This year the Niagara County Dairy
Princess Committee will be celebrating their 50th Pageant and our 20th
Anniversary as the Niagara Orleans Dairy Princess Pageant! Fifty years
ago, Linda Chaffee Rosenthal was crowned the first Niagara County Dairy
Princess. The committee is looking for all former Niagara or Orleans dairy
Princesses and would love to see all of them attend or at
least be included in our program with an update on where they are today
and how the program touched their life. Please contact Brian Waters at
735-7113. Each past princess will be given complimentary dinner tickets
to this year’s event.
You
may ask, what is the Niagara Orleans Dairy Princess program? It’s
a lot more than you imagine. The Dairy Princess delivers and promotes
the Dairy Industry. It really wasn’t that long ago that everyone worked
on a farm or had a family member that was a dairy farmer. Unfortunately
that has now become many generations removed from the family farm. But
thankfully the Dairy Princess program lives on and is keeping our
heritage and our roots deep, strong and alive. The Dairy princesses take
part in many activities to help bridge the gap between farmers and
consumers. The youth of our program work hard in your local schools and
in your community to promote and educate about the Dairy Industry.
The
Dairy princess program is an important part of American Dairy
Association and Dairy Council Communications team. This is a grass-roots
effort to reach consumers on a daily basis. Many educational programs
are based for elementary school age children. The Princess and her court
travel around Niagara and Orleans County to educate our youth on the
industry and its future. They participate at Farm Bureau meetings,
Cornell Cooperative Extension Annual dinners, Parades, Niagara County
Fair’s Farm City Breakfast and various 4-H animal shows. They do
supermarket promotions, radio and tv promotions as well as Environmental
days that take place every year at the Royalton Ravine. Over the past
10 years the Princess has went to our local hospitals to welcome the
first baby born in June, which is Dairy Month, and presented the new
moms with a dairy care package which has included a onesie, bib, and a
bottle among other things.
This
program helps to build strong, energetic leaders on and off the farms.
It has taught public speaking, dealing with difficult and tough
questions about farm practices and educating the public on
misconceptions about milk and the farming life. Today it is more
important than ever to educate people on the importance of dairy in our
lives. This group represents a bright and strong future for our New York
State farms and farming industry.
This
year’s Pageant will be held at the Hartland Volunteer Fire Company,
8945 Ridge Rd, Gasport on April 23 at 7:00. Tickets are $12.00 for
adults, children 6-12 are $8.00 and children under age 6 are $4.00. This
event is open to the public and if you would like to attend please make
checks payable to Niagara-Orleans County Dairy Princess Committee and
mail to Lorretta Criswell, 8519 Ertman Rd, Lockport, NY 14094 before
April 15th.
