Thank you, Cheese Days volunteers

The 57th annual Cheese Days celebration has come and gone and with it has come and gone a plethora of events and excitement. The event was the first Cheese Days for me personally that I had gone around and done almost everything that was available to do throughout the weekend.

The event is a cultural phenomenon in this area. Yes, alcohol is probably part of that culture but I think an even bigger part of the culture is the volunteer work that goes into the weekend.

I saw Colby resident and city council member Dan Hederer on Friday around 4 p.m. helping to get the beer tent set up and helping to get the First Street area ready for the weekend. I then saw him later Friday night and once again on Saturday morning. He said he was running on four hours of sleep but had to be there setting up for the car show and other festivities on Saturday morning.

The same could be seen with individuals like Kevin Hanson, Connie Gurtner, Dave Smith, Wade and Matt Oehmichen, Chad Bender, Liz Birr, Jeanie Tesch, chamber members, city council members, business owners, community members and so many others who band together to put on an event that gives families memories that will last a lifetime.

I was talking to Loos Machine and Automation employees on Friday night and they said they are let out of work a little bit early on the Friday of Cheese Days to go and help set up stands on First Street.

I remember some of my memories of going to Cheese Days as a kid and riding on the rides or walking down the midway with my parents or family members. I also remember marching in the parade with the band or riding on the float and performing with the Colby show choir while in high school. Then, after graduating, I did more adult activities. I got into softball and participated in the annual tournament held down at the Colby softball fields. I also found myself down at the beer tent once or twice as I got older. This year was an entirely different experience for me. I was working a majority of the weekend. I was buzzing around, taking pictures of every event I could. When I wasn’t taking pictures, I was helping run the scoreboard and do the book for the softball tournament. It was cool to see so many people come together to make the weekend possible and even to see the new Colby superintendent, Patrick Galligan, helping out the booster club by flipping burgers at the softball fields on Saturday.

I would say my favorite part of the weekend was probably watching the parade and UW-Madison Marching Band on Sunday. It was impressive to see kids putting on a show that had people of all ages dancing around and having fun with the band.

It turned into a long weekend. It was a ton of fun and I’m really glad I got to experience parts of Cheeses Days that I hadn’t gotten to before.

I’ve also got to give a shout out to Sami, our creative and photographer extraordinaire for taking pictures at everything I wasn’t able to get to this weekend.

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