The Strolling of the Heifers.

May 13, 2002 9:29 AM

The Strolling of the Heifers. It's not exactly the running of the bulls, but Brattleboro, Vermont's "three-day festival about cows, small towns, small farms and the myriad things that make rural life special" hopes to support the local farming community, which has been badly squeezed since the expiration of the Northeast Dairy Compact. It features (among other things) a milking contest between U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy, U.S. Senator James Jeffords, and U.S. Congressman Bernie Sanders.
posted by mattpfeff (7 comments total)

Oh, this is lovely - the part of America we foreigners(and most of you Americans?)never get to experience. Fuck Pampona and all that Hemingway bullshit. The earnest honesty of it all is charming - you just know it's going to be fun. With cheese! Who knows? Perhaps "Senator-milked Vermont cheese" will catch on. Here's my favourite excerpt:

Music on the gazebo will be provided by Simba. Bring your dancing shoes because Simba's infectious rythms will surely have you on your feet.

It's the other side of Sinatra's sophisticated rendition of "Moonlight In Vermont" and all the better for it. Well, not really...I got carried away. Thanks, mattpfeff.
posted by MiguelCardoso at 10:08 AM on May 13, 2002

Pamplona.
posted by MiguelCardoso at 10:09 AM on May 13, 2002

If it was a sausage-making contest, then I would expect the Senators to perform admirably, being familiar with pork.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 10:14 AM on May 13, 2002

The expiration of the dairy compact is really sad. without it, it is extremely difficult for new england dairy farmers to compete against the far larger (and therefore more effecient) dairy farms in the midwest. Bush let it expire in retaliation for Jeffords leaving the Republican party. But of course is the farmers that are hurt, not Jeffords.
posted by boltman at 10:22 AM on May 13, 2002

The flip side of rural life is, of course, rural death.
posted by gohlkus at 3:45 PM on May 13, 2002

The earnest honesty of it all is charming - you just know it's going to be fun.

Ah, if only the rest of the world was like Miguel. We could sell anything to anybody. With cheese!
posted by rodii at 4:31 PM on May 13, 2002

Those aren't heifers, those are yearlings! (Sorry -- it's a farm thing)
posted by nathan_teske at 6:25 PM on May 13, 2002