&uot;Got Milk?&uot; the familiar and healthy challenge from the American Dairy Association (ADA), is being answered in part at the Freeborn County Fair at what may be the smallest of the permanent buildings in the fairgrounds. This is what’s now the Freeborn County ADA Dairy Barn.

This structure with the roof contour of a barn is located very logically right next to the fair’s Cattle Building.

Paul G. and Beverly Anderson, who live on a farm north of Lerdal, have been involved with the operations of the Dairy Barn since its start in 1979.

&uot;This promotion of dairy products was started by Dave Lunde,&uot; Paul explained. He added that Lunde was a board member of Mid-America Dairymen, a dairy products processing and marketing cooperative.

For the first two years the dairy products promoters used a small barn building which was borrowed from the Goodhue County Fairgrounds in Zumbrota. Then Lunde was able to purchase the present building which had been constructed by a man in Fairmont. It was moved to Albert Lea for the 1981 fair. This new building had a wooden floor which was later replaced with the present cement floor.

In time, Anderson replaced Lunde on the Mid-America Dairymen board. And by 1998 he said the compact Dairy Barn was given to the ADA.

Milk products used for sales comes from Sampson Dairy of Albert Lea. The Dairy Barn is open from 11 a.m. to about 11 p.m. on fair days. This place specializes in double-dip cones with a choice of vanilla, chocolate, maple nut and strawberry flavors. Anderson said vanilla is used the most because it also becomes the base for root beer floats. The most popular flavor for cones is maple nut.

&uot;Surprising popular,&uot; is how he describes the sales of frozen yogurt cones in a choice of strawberry and peach flavors.

The only beverage available at the Dairy Barn is milk in half-pint and pint sizes. That alone answers the &uot;Got Milk?&uot; challenge.

There’s even an annex to the Dairy Barn. At the rear of the building north of the Cattle Barn is a freezer for extra storage. A tent has been erected over this outdoor freezer to protect it from the sun. This tent also shelters a wooden picnic table where people can sit down to eat dairy products and to visit.

&uot;I’m retired, but busy,&uot; Anderson said. He explains that he started milking cows at the age of 11 and quit his dairy operations in 1999.

He and his wife, Beverly, open and close the Dairy Barn each day during fair time. They are assisted by a group of volunteers who get entry passes and meal tickets.

&uot;It has become a tradition for people coming to the fair to have an ice cream cone at the Dairy Barn,&uot; Anderson commented.

&uot;Our prices are lower so we can promote dairy products,&uot; he added.

As a bonus for fairgoers there’s another place on the Freeborn County Fairgrounds which also participates in the &uot;Got Milk?&uot; challenge. This is the mobile stand located south of the Dairy Barn and next to the of the former Rodeo Corral site.

For 10 years this stand, one of eight operated by the state’s ADA organization, and going from fair to fair, has specialized in milk shakes with a choice of chocolate, vanilla and strawberry flavors.

Also available at the second ADA location at the Freeborn County Fair is milk in both natural and chocolate flavors. And, despite an old vaudeville joke, chocolate milk isn’t produced by brown cows.