June is National Dairy Month.  And in Barron County and the Rice Lake area of Wisconsin, a very special event takes place every year on the first Saturday of June: the Barron County June Dairy Month Breakfast.  The last couple of years, Covid19 naturally wreaked havoc everywhere, making the breakfast difficult to accomplish and keeping down numbers of attendees.  But the event was back in full swing this year, and held at Wohlk’s Rainbow Valley Farm, just a wee bit north of Almena (roughly 20 minutes west of Rice Lake).

In this reporter’s humble opinion, the breakfast was a huge success.  My wife and I arrived at the venue at approximately 6:15 am to a field already jammed with about 150 cars, with more filing in rapidly and beginning to line up on the adjacent highway.

From The Parking Area To The Breakfast Line

Several horse-drawn wagons carrying about 20 guests each, were moving steadily from the parking area to the breakfast line and returning for more hungry folks as quickly as was possible.  We decided to walk the short distance, enjoying one of the best mornings we had experienced thus far in the spring!

The line of eager eaters moved rather quickly, but as they moved, a worker was constantly passing small containers of freshly fried and oh, so tasty cheese curds.  I was later told that 300-400 lbs. of the savory morsels would be fried that morning, and that the supply would by gone by about 9:00 am, making us glad we arrived early!

What’s For Breakfast?

At the head of the line, patrons were greeted by a pair of large, rustic and galvanized milk cans, into which they tossed a “freewill offering” to cover the cost of breakfast, “with proceeds benefiting the Barron County Dairy Promoters organization”.  From that point, plates were handed out and workers began to fill them generously with pancakes, apple sauce, cheese slices and freshly scrambled eggs with bits of ham and… cheese (naturally!).  At the end of the line we helped ourselves to cartons of either plain or chocolate milk and headed for an available table, where hot coffee and containers of real maple syrup for the pancakes were waiting.

Ice Cream, Calves And Tractors

We capped off the meal with some of the best ice cream I have ever tasted! It was creamy, smooth and oh, so good!  After that we made our way through a couple of the barns on the property  — one where the new batch of calves was housed and another where the milking was done and transferred to a holding tank to await pick-up.  We also saw several old-time tractors that had been beautifully restored by local high school Ag students.

My understanding is that approximately 3400 guests enjoyed an outstanding breakfast on Saturday, June 4^th.  Many thanks to the Wohlk family for their gracious and generous hosting of this year’s breakfast, and to the large number of volunteers who made the day such a huge success!  All my best to the Barron County Dairy Promoters organization – We will definitely be back for breakfast next year!

Additional Resources, Links & Products

• Wisconsin Field to Fork: Farm-Fresh Recipes from the Dairy State by Lori Fredrich (Amazon book)
• Read about Cheese Brothers located in Barron, WI (blog article)