AUXILIARY NEWS

By Datonn Hanke, vice president, WPGA

Hello, all! We’ve had a somewhat busy month and would love to share it with you. March 29-31 was the 60th Annual WPS Farm Show in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, and let me start by saying it was so great to be back after a twoyear hiatus. It was a cold and blustery couple of days, but what else can we expect from March in Wisconsin? The Wisconsin Potato Growers Auxiliary runs a potato booth every year where we sell baked potatoes and French fries at the WPS Farm Show, and suffice it to say, it’s a fan favorite!

I had the pleasure of working in the booth this year, and it was awesome to see the long line of people waiting excitedly for their Wisconsin potato goodies. If you haven’t been able to attend the WPS Farm Show in the past, stop by next year and visit us at

Volunteer workers at the WPGA baked potato and French fries booth during the WPS Farm Show are, from left to right, Kari Burns, Carole Gagas, Cliff Gagas, Abby Firkus, Marilyn Wierzba, Lynn Isherwood, Denise Firkus, Lonnie Firkus, and Justin Isherwood. Top: The line at left was steady during the 60th Annual WPS Farm Show, with people waiting excitedly for baked potatoes and French fries at the Wisconsin Potato Growers Auxiliary (WPGA) booth. At right are WPVGA Financial Officer Karen Rasmussen (red shirt and apron) and WPGA member Carole Gagas (yellow shirt and apron), and to the left under the Pepsi sign is WPVGA Program Assistant Jane Guillen. Above: WPVGA Financial Officer Karen Rasmussen (left) serves up baked potatoes with Cliff and Carole Gagas at the WPS Farm Show. Cliff and Carole are largely responsible for planning and helping execute the WPGA baked potato and French fries booth at the show each year, and keeping it running smoothly.

The first volunteer group working the baked potato and French fries booth, on March 29, includes, from left to right, Kathy Bartsch, Patty Hafner, Carole Gagas, Cliff Gagas, Marie Reid, Marilyn Wierzba and Sheila Rine. WPVGA’s Executive Assistant Julie Braun (left) and Program Assistant Jane Guillen take time from their busy shift working the baked potato and French fries booth to pose for a picture.

the booth in the food tent.

We’d like to give a huge thank you to Cliff and Carole Gagas for flawlessly putting everything together and keeping it running smoothly at the potato booth, and to everyone who came to help. We also have some exciting things happening in April and May. The Kids Dig Wisconsin Potatoes program has been running since January and all the participating classrooms have been growing their potatoes. Next, we’ll be visiting a few schools with the Spudmobile to see how they did and have a Harvest Party. The Harvest Parties are always so much fun and the kids (as well as adults) really enjoy them. We bring interactive potato-oriented games for the students to play and spend the afternoon with them. It’s a great way for us to promote Wisconsin potatoes to our youth and have a great time doing it. I’ll share some photos from our Harvest Parties in June’s Auxiliary News.

Until next time,

Datonn

Vice president, WPGA