Over the years through all the years of the Dairy Festival there has been one constant. Linda Hager. Ms. Hager was actually dairy royalty before there even was a Dairy Festival. In 1954 she was selected as the Dairy Show Queen, an honor that went to the daughter of a dairyman. Although she had been involved in Dairy Festival every year, Ms. Hager joined the board in either 1965 or 1966. The board chose to increase their membership by getting organizations to nominate new board members and Ms. Hager was chosen to serve from Mothers Culture Club. She has just about seen it all. Ms. Hager remembers a helicopter setting down next to a large float of loose cotton representing a cloud right before the start of a parade. The cotton flew everywhere. She says everyone pitched in to get the cotton back in place. Then there were the ties that occurred in Queen voting in 1960 and in 1987. Ms. Hager remembers the scrambling to get an extra crown and bouquet for two queens. Since then the rules have been changed to prevent that. Ms. Hager also remembers the high degree of secrecy that accompanied float building.
By Don Julian, KSST News and Sports Director
