Friday, JJune 18, 2021 | Country Acres • Page 23
The cows
are coming to town
Dairy cooperative thanks community with art project BY SARAH COLBURN STAFF WRITER
PHOTOS SUBMITTED
Members of the Litchfield Lions Club finish work on the cow they’re decorating for the First District Association’s Downtown Cowtown project that will ultimately raise money for local organizations.
statues were purchased through a gallery in New Jersey that sells just about everything known to mankind – but in statue form. “Cows are our lifeblood here, without the cow we wouldn’t be in business,” Gassman said. The fiberglass cattle originated from the Philippines and the eight fullsize cows and 10 calves cost around $20,000. The cost was covered by the contractors working on First District Association’s expansion project;
each one donated a few thousand dollars to help with the project, which will ultimately benefit local community organizations. Local non-profit organizations including the Lions Club, the Rotary Club and Meeker Area Partners in Prevention, among others, partnered with local artists to decorate their cows. In the case of the Early Childhood Family Education program, the artwork on the cow was created by 3-, 4- and 5-year-olds.
Amber Youngblom (left) and Meghan McClain pose with the Meeker Area Partners in Prevention cow that is part of the Downtown Cowtown project that celebrates the 100th anniversary of First District Association.
No matter how the cows are adorned, and exactly who created the artwork, they’ll all be used to raise money for the organizations they represent. In August, the cows will be auctioned off and the dollars raised will go to the non-profit who took ownership of the design. So many organizations became interested in the cow project, First District Association had to authorize the purchase of more statues to support the community venture. They initially started by purchasing 10 or 12 and now there are 18 in total.
The Litchfield Downtown Council has been assisting with the project and coordinating the participating nonprofits as well as the locations, which are outlined on a map. Darlene Kotelnicki is the secretary of the downtown council and helped launch the idea with First District Association as a celebration. She said it’s something families can get out and see as they return to a new normal. She’s also excited to see how the cow project could bring tourism to the area as people come to see the cows, shop, eat, enjoy
the parks and the splash pad. “It’s a promotion of our community,” she said. Already, Gassman said, people and organizations are showing interest in buying the statues, including community organizations and milk haulers. First District Association serves more than 720 family farms in Minnesota and a few in Wisconsin. They’re a cooperative, owned by the milk producers. The expansion they’re currently bringing online includes three segments: a new lactose plant, a new milk receiving plant and a new cheese plant. First District Association currently processes 5.5 million pounds of milk per day and, with the expansion, will be able to process 7.5 million pounds of milk per day. The expansion has been under discussion since 2014. The project was commissioned by the association’s board of directors, which is made up of association patrons, more specifically, dairy farmers.
Cows page 24
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LITCHFIELD – Cows will be popping up in locations throughout Litchfield this month. The cows, each rendered life-size and crafted from fiberglass, will be uniquely designed and painted by artists associated with area nonprofits. The cows serve not only to celebrate First District Association’s 100th anniversary, they’re a community-wide fundraising project that benefits the entire region. “First District is smack dab in the middle of the community, landlocked all the way around,” said Troy Gassman, engineer project manager with First District Association. “(This is) a gesture back to thank the folks for their patience.” First District Association, he said, often has trucks coming and going and that’s especially true these last few months as the member-owned cooperative finishes its two-year expansion project. The cows are a way for the community to rally together around a cause. “People were looking forward to doing something positive,” Gassman said. The life-size cow
Th Litchfi Lit hfield ld B The Boy Scout Troop 3353 designed their own cow for the Downtown Cowtown project.
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