It was the annual dairy promotion in the state’s capital: Dairy Product Awareness Day. Milk co-ops from around the state set up in one tent on the lawn of the Michigan State Capitol in Lansing to give away ice cream, cheese, milk and other dairy products.

 

Someone in a cow costume walks around and talks – well, actually, mimes – to people and poses for pictures with everyone from daycare kids to Congressmen. Long lines form for free scoops of Country Fresh and Hudsonville ice cream until all of it is gone.

State representatives that come from dairy roots say a few words about the industry in Michigan and then they introduce the star athlete, who says a few words, signs a few autographs and talks about the advantages of dairy in their training regime.

It’s a great promotional time for the dairy industry in Michigan and I always enjoy attending this event. But this year, the star power was just a little brighter. It began with the two women from the House of Representatives who welcomed the crowd.

Both of them are wives of dairy farmers and have spent their lives keeping all the plates spinning on the dairy farm. State Rep. Judy Emmons and newly elected Rep. Julie Alexander stood on the podium and, in a way that only dairy women can, proudly and confidently welcomed the crowd to the celebration.

As I listened to them, I was so proud to know these two ladies knew what it was like to chase cows in the middle of the night and deal with broken skid steers and frozen water lines. They had been down the rough and tenuous road of dairy farming and knew that giving up is not an option.

These state representatives knew how to work, how to solve problems and squeeze a nickel ’til it screams. While they are only two voices in a sea of legislators, they are two experienced, tenacious “dairy girls” who can be relied upon when the job gets tough.

The star athlete was a swimmer. She was tall, beautiful and poised. Her smile was easy and she knew how to deal with the public. I began snapping photos of her and suddenly I saw her pull something out of her back pocket: An Olympic gold medal.

My interest in this tall beauty increased tenfold when I set my eyes on that medal. Star-struck and scrambling to find out who this new promoter of dairy was, I moved in closer to hear someone introducing her as Allison Schmitt.

As I stood there and stirred my memory, I remembered watching her swim during the 2016 Olympics, but like most of those athletes I forget about them once the games are over. She grew up in Michigan and earned eight medals: four gold, two silver and two bronze, swimming in three Olympics.

The lives in Arizona with decorated Olympian Michael Phelps and his family, and he refers to her as his little sister. This young woman smiled with every flash of the camera and let anyone who wanted to hold her gold medal. Five-year-old children put it around their necks and adults took countless selfies with her hard-earned medal of accomplishment.

 

Everyone wanted to look at, touch and feel that iconic award in their hands in this once-in-a-lifetime moment. And Allison generously allowed hundreds of handprints to touch history.

 

The Michigan dairy industry had a proud moment with two farm wives and an Olympic swimmer touting the goodness of dairy in a promotional effort that is “Undeniably Dairy.”

The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of Farm World. Readers with questions or comments for Melissa Hart may write to her in care of this publication.