Community to celebrate 40th year of Dryden Dairy Day

When Brenda Carpenter started planning for the first-ever Dryden Dairy Day in 1985, the thought was it would be a one-and-done event.

Forty years later, Dairy Day has become an annual signature event in the Dryden area as it continues to promote dairy and agriculture during National Dairy Month in June.

“It’s something where we never really expected to have a second [event],” said Carpenter, co-chair of Dryden Dairy Day. “When we started planning for it back in 1985, we thought we would do this one year.”

The 40th annual Dryden Dairy Day is scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m. on June 8, the second Saturday of the month.

The preliminary planning stages for the inaugural Dairy Day event were previously tied in with the town of Owego’s Strawberry Festival. Volunteers from Dryden and Owego planned to connect their respective events with a train and other means of transportation.

“At first, it kind of all came together,” Carpenter said. “[The events] were in perfect harmony with each other.”

The proposed exchange never came to fruition. Volunteers, however, were deep into planning Dryden Dairy Day, so it continued on schedule. Carpenter said that the event’s attendees “loved it so much” that they anticipated a follow-up event next year.

“When I think back to where we started 40 years ago and how we have grown, it’s incredible,” Carpenter said.

The Dryden Dairy Day committee has also developed over the years, Carpenter said. Potential committee members previously were required to be members of Dryden Grange, a local agricultural organization.

As Dairy Day grew, Carpenter and the committee members knew they needed more help. This led to the committee opening membership to people who provided “community support,” Carpenter said.

The committee now consists of seven members.

“[Dryden Dairy Day] is a community event that the community is invested in and can be proud of,” Carpenter said. “It gives us a good feeling for living in Dryden.”

The theme for the parade, which kicks off Dairy Day every year, is LegenDAIRY Superheroes, Carpenter said. Up to 50 floats will participate. The parade also includes horses and a marching band.

Carpenter mentioned that the parade starts at the Empire Livestock pavilion on Main Street, goes down the road and concludes at Montgomery Park. The park is the main location for Dairy Day.

The parade is typically followed by the announcement of this year’s Dairy Day ambassador. 

About 70 vendors will participate in Dairy Day, Carpenter said. The event will have free contests, including hay-throwing, guessing the birthdays of different animals and a pedal tractor pull for children.

The event’s live animal display includes cows, goats, sheep, rabbits, chickens and other animals. Dryden Grange will hand out hand-dipped scoops of ice cream and a carton of milk, each for 25 cents.

“It’s our way of promoting dairy products,” Carpenter said.

Carpenter mentioned that the Dairy Day committee partnered with Dryden Central School District to have kindergarten classes take sheets of papers with a picture of a cow and color them. The sheets are posted on pieces of plywood by classes. The public votes on its favorite for each class.

“It gives kindergartners an opportunity to get people to vote for their cow and enjoy the competition,” Carpenter said. “It’s fun to see it happen.”

A new addition to this year’s Dairy Day is the three-on-three basketball tournament by the Town of Dryden Recreation Department. The Ageless Jazz Band and Fall Creek Brass Band will provide live music.

“This event is set up to recognize dairy farms and the role they play in the community,” said Richard Church, co-chair of Dryden Dairy Day and president of Dryden Grange. “It gives attention and appreciation to dairy farms that they deserve. [Dairy Day] is just a good old home show in Dryden.”

Dairy Day has become part of Carpenter’s life. She has seen how much the annual event has become part of the Dryden community.

“We want people to recognize and appreciate the agricultural community and what we contribute to Dryden,” Carpenter said. “This is our community, and this is why Dryden is such a special place to live.”

Dryden Dispatch appears every week in Tompkins Weekly. Send story ideas to editorial@vizellamedia.com.

In brief:

Unofficial results from Dryden schools’ community vote and BOE elections

Dryden Central School District (DCSD) held its annual community vote and board of education (BOE) elections on May 21.

The Dryden community approved the school’s proposed $47,049,383 budget by a 373-to-153 margin. Voters also approved a couple of propositions by DCSD, including the authorization to use $552,000 to purchase school buses and other transportation vehicles (373-to-152 margin) and $100,000 for building and infrastructure improvements at Freeville Elementary School (399-to-128 margin).

Three candidates were elected to the Dryden BOE for three-year terms: Bridget Flanigan (419 votes), Justin St. Juliana (402 votes) and Tami Tabone (318 votes). Leslie Debo was elected to the board for a one-year term (89 votes).

Further information on the schools’ budget, propositions and newly elected board members is available at dryden.k12.ny.us.

Results will become official at the BOE meeting on June 10 at 6 p.m.