A heritage in peril

Seeking to slow down and even reverse the decline of New England farming, Strolling of the Heifers works to educate the public, and especially school children, about the importance of sustainable local agriculture; we work to preserve the livelihoods of farming families and the health of consumers who depend on local farm products; and we help maintain the patronage of tourists who are drawn to our agricultural environment.

(Photo by Ken30684, used under Creative Commons Attribution License)

 Who we are

Inspired by Spain’s famous "Running of the Bulls," Brattleboro’s annual Strolling of the Heifers Parade features scores of heifers ambling up the town’s historic Main Street, along with many, many farmers, future farmers, cows, bulls, horses, goats, poultry, floats, tractors, bands, clowns, and much more. When it’s over, the crowd follows the parade to the grounds of the Brattleboro Retreat and enjoys food, music, dancing and fun at the Dairy Festival. The event is held each year on the first weekend in June, which is National Dairy Month. On "Stroll Weekend," there are also farm-related events on Friday evening, and a farm breakfast and farm tour on Sunday morning.

The Strolling of the Heifers Parade & Festival is consistently rated one of Vermont’s top 10 summer events, and is attended by as many as 45,000 people.

What we do

In addition to capturing the national media’s imagination with our successful annual parades, Strolling of the Heifers has made many noteworthy strides. Among these, we have:

• Provided $140,000 for educational programs to over 80 schools and other organizations
• Created and distributed a comprehensive guide that highlights area farms open for the public's enjoyment
• Organized a Buy Local Challenge to encourage local residents to buy food grown or produced in the region
• Presented hands-on farmer-teacher workshops
• Given guidance to teachers on how visits to area farms can be used to give students real-life learning experiences that not only teach them basic math and science skills, but also enrich their knowledge of subjects such as food, society, work and history
• Held workshops to help teachers learn how to teach students about agriculture in the classroom
• Provided grants to farmers to attend workshops so they can better their skills at adding value to what they produce on their farms
• Launched the Microloan Fund for New England Farmers, which will make its first loans in 2009, aided by two benefit concerts by the Seeger family, and several grants
• Spread the message of the importance of saving New England's family farms via our web site, www.strollingoftheheifers.com
• Published a cookbook, "Celebrating Our Roots", filled with recipes from Southeastern Vermont featuring local products and chefs

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