Milk Days has much to offer

HARVARD – Music. Parades. Food.

What else could Harvard Milk Days offer?

How about monkeys dressed as jockeys racing dogs? Yeah, the festival has that too.

“The monkeys have their own silks just like horse racing jockeys,” said Wanda Marzahl, Harvard Milk Days office administrator. The so-called “Banana Derby” will make its Milk Days debut Friday at 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. The derby also will happen on Saturday at 3 p.m., 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. and on Sunday at 1 p.m., 3 p.m., 5 p.m. and 7 p.m.

Marzahl has been the office administrator for Milk Days for 20 years. In that time she’s seen many changes to the longest running festival in Illinois.

“We’ve expanded so much,” Marzahl said.

After all of these years Marzahl said her favorite aspect of Milk Days is the food: “There’s such a variety of foods. Mexican, Chinese, the good old fashioned steak sandwich – it’s out of this world good.”

Milk Days began in 1942. The Harvard Milk Days Web site states that at the time of the first festival there were seven dairy companies within a 15-mile radius of Harvard. The city became the self-proclaimed “Milk center of the world.”

The importance of the dairy industry remained a fixture of Milk Days through the years. The Web site states that by the 1960s 160 dairy farmers were within the boundaries of school District 50. In 1967 the farm tours of dairy operations became part of the festival’s tradition.

And in 1970, Harmilda, the famous fiberglass cow, was first introduced.

Milk Days now is large enough that it stretches over over two weekends. During the week the festival has events such as the Big Wheel Races at 6 p.m. and the Bed Race Finals at 7 p.m. Wednesday. The biggest festival days are Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Admission to Milk Days is free. Parking costs $3 a day. For a weekend parking pass for all three days the cost is $6.