Linda Christensen - Princess Kay and Me: Stories about the Minnesota Butterheads and much more

Published by Kirk House Publishers

Princess Kay and Me: Stories About the Minnesota Butterheads and Much More

Copyright 2022 Linda Christensen

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

The information in this book is distributed as an as is basis, without warranty. Although every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this work, neither the author nor the publisher shall have any liability to any person or entity with respect to any loss or damage caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by the information contained in this book.

The opinions and observations contained in this book are the authors own. Nothing in this book represents the views of Midwest Dairy Association or the American Dairy Association of the Midwest, which was not involved in the creation of this book

First Edition

ISBN: 9781952976377

Library of Congress Control Number: 2022901991

Cover Image : Mary Zahurones Amundson, Princess Kay of the Milky Way, 2011, by Patrick O'Conner, University of Minnesota.

Back Cover Image courtesy of William Ewald

Cover and interior designed by: Ann Aubitz

Published by Kirk House Publishers

1250 E 115th Street

Burnsville, MN 55337

Kirkhousepublishers.com

612-781-2815

Dedicated

in loving memory to

Sarah Ann Christensen

and

Jennifer Lynn Christensen Rich

and with gratitude to

Simone Christensen Shaffer.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

T

hank you, first of all, to the Midwest Dairy Association, an organ-ization made up of dairy farmers, their support services, and many hard-working staff members. You have impacted my life in ways I could never have guessed when I walked into the cooler for the first time in clogs and a borrowed snowmobile suit.

Janet Bremer, I could not have done it without your encyclopedic knowledge of past princesses, your willingness to go back through records and supply answers to my many questions, and your cheerful encourage-ment throughout the process.

Thanks as well to Terry Simon, who kept the cooler going and retrieved dropped tools from under the workings, and to the kids hired to work at the Dairy Building during the fair who are assigned the job of keeping the butter booth cleanno small task.

Thank you to Associated Milk Producers, Inc. for providing tons of butterliterally. My special thanks to Bill Swan, who was in charge of making up the special blocks I used and whose knowledge of that part of the process got me through some tricky times.

Thank you to friends and family who encouraged me throughout the writing of this book, especially Suzanne Schoenfelt and Connie Anderson, faithful readers who improved my writing.

To my generous friend, Carol Juelfs, who always made a place for me and my various dogs to stay in her beautiful home during the fair and all the other times I came to town for classes and buying trips, thank you.

To all the dairy princesses over the years: I thank every one of you for the frosty, hectic, and enjoyable day we spent in the cooler together.

To the Princesses who generously shared their stories, I have included your name below the appropriate chapter headings on the List of Contributors, page 11. I owe each of you a special thanks. My thanks as well to everyone who contributed photos.

Dear Minnesota fairgoers, thank you all for appreciating the strange and rewarding turn taken by my uniquely public art, which has become so much more to me than the butterheads.

List of Contributors

One: At the Fair: City Butter Carver, Country Dairy Princess

Two: My Long Journey to What I Do Best

Three: Traveling Sculptures

Four: A Tradition: Rural Meets Urban at the Fair

Five: Days in the Cooler, Days on the Farm

Six: About the Cows

Seven: WCCO AM Radio, Ball Games, Farm Reports, Stage Plays and Pop Culture

Eight: Loss of Farms: A Woman's Place

Nine: Things You Don't Know About Butter...And Why Should You?

Ten: Side Trips and Politics

Eleven: Life the Other 353 Days

Twelve: Homecoming

Thirteen: My Final Year at the Fair: One Last Butterhead

Notes from the Author

I

have spent over 500 days in a cooler for about six actual working hours each day, conversing with remarkable young women, all of whom either grew up on a dairy farm or were connected to the dairy community in life-changing ways. Although annually, only one of twelve participants for the title is named Princess Kay of the Milky Way for a year-long reign, throughout this book I refer to them all as princessesbecause they all possess the skills, work ethic and absolute passion for the dairy community they represent.

For every princess whose story I tell in this book, there are many more who have gone on to similar accomplishmentswho care deeply about their farms and animalswho love the science of dairy. They have taken me on quite a journey.

I have met their families, some of whom return in the years following the day their princess was in the cooler: some of them to be there for younger sisters or other family members. They have become what I call my fair friends.

Many of the stories I tell are from interviews beginning in 2017 through 2019. In most cases, I have not tried to update them, although, most certainly, their situations have since changed. They spoke from the heart and similar stories will always be in the making somewhere in my beloved rural Minnesota.

As for my personal story, I hope that, if nothing else, readers who feel called to the visual arts will understand that art can lead one to the most unexpected places. For others, I can't stress enough how the need to create can be all-consuming for some, and the de-emphasis on the arts in public schools is, in my opinion, a tragedy for such individuals.

Chapter 1

At the Fair: City Butter Carver,

Country Dairy Princess

A

popular musical thrilled American audiences for decades: the story of Brigadoon, a mythical village that rises from the misty moors of Scotland every hundred years. The inhabitants tend sheep, milk cows, bake bread, and put up preserves to trade among themselves. Audiences longed for the simple lifestyle in that Broadway version of a rural setting. A real-life reflection of Brigadoon occurs once every year when a magical community rises up between two cities that are joined where the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers meet. The phenomenon is known as the Minnesota State Fair.