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Green County Cheese Days Festival
September 16, 2022 - September 18, 2022
It’s the granddaddy of all food fests in the Midwest: Green County Cheese Days in Monroe!
Enjoy three days of full-flavored, family fun celebrating cheesemaking, dairy farming and Swiss traditions. It all happens on the Historic Courthouse Square in downtown Monroe, Wisconsin – right where the festival got started way back in 1914.
Right away you’ll sense the cheesy vibe: a procession of cheesemakers at Friday’s opening ceremony, old time copper kettle cheesemaking on Saturday (take a turn stirring with the Swiss harp), and the big Cheese Tent all weekend – stop by on Friday and Saturday to meet cheese carver and food artist Nancy Baker. Among other varieties, she’ll be carving an eighteen-pound wheel of Grand Cru from Monroe’s Emmi Roth USA. The festival even has a mascot named “Wedgie” who is shaped like a supersize wedge cut from a supersize wheel of Swiss Emmenthaler cheese!
On the cheesy festival menu: gourmet grilled cheese with secret sauce, Monroe Optimist Club’s famous deep-fried cheese curds, mac-n-cheese, baked cheese skewers, and cheesecake on a stick made exclusively for the festival.
See where cheese gets started by meeting the farmers and their herds at one of Green County’s showcase dairy farms. Board a bus downtown for a guided countryside tour with barn quilts and a dairy farm visit. Limited seating is available for tours on Friday and Saturday. Advance ticket sales highly encouraged as these tours sold out last time.
The highlight of the Cheese Days festival weekend is Wisconsin’s only parade led by a herd of Brown Swiss cows. You’ll hear bells clanging in the distance long before you see the beautiful bovines march past wearing fancy embroidered collars, imported Swiss bells, and colorful floral wreathes. The Swiss Colony Cheese Days Parade steps off on Sunday, September 18 at 12:30 PM. New this year – members of the University Wisconsin Marching Band will bring their signature “5th Quarter” celebration to the main stage right after Sunday’s parade.
Two Cheese Days entertainment stages feature everything from alphorns and yodeling, to doo wop and current top pop. Returning favorites on the lineup include yodel master Kerry Christensen, polka masters The Goodtime Dutchmen, Wheelhouse, and the Doo Wop Daddies. New on the schedule: DJ Stacy spins vintage polka records, accordion legend Ruth Marty and Friends, and a throwback to “Edelweiss Revisited” with entertainers from New Glarus. Evening headliners for 2022 are Boogie and the Yo-yo’z on Friday night, and Screamin’ Cucumbers on Saturday.
Throughout the weekend, you’ll also see street entertainers like drumlines, stilt walkers, roving accordion players, and alphorn players. For families – fun and games on Kids’ Street on Saturday (bubble stations, jugglers, clowns, dunk tank, dancers and singers, and more), plus the Family Farm Adventure Tent all weekend.
Like the song says: music, dancing, yodeling too – and the big parade for you!