Greene County Farm Bureau hosted a “Families, Football, Farming, and Fun” tailgate at Linduska Field on Friday, Aug. 18. According to Greene County Farm Bueau president John McCormick, the board had been thinking about hosting a community event late summer/early fall that would showcase livestock production and agriculture in the county. The board realized at its last meeting that farming and football have a lot in common: hard work, commitment, integrity, and giving it your all, whether on the playing field or in the farm fields. The theme “Families, Football, Farming, and Fun” was off and running.
“We partnered with Moo Meat and the Greene County Cattlemen about grilling hamburgers and hotdogs. We also contacted Fareway and HyVee and they were also fantastic partners and we had excellent help from the Greene County Booster Club, FFA, and cheerleaders. All were phenomenal to work with,” McCormick said.
More than 550 burgers and hotdogs were served to attendees. Farm Bureau board members and cheerleaders manned many of the interactive farm game stations which included an egg toss, ag trivia wheel, ag puzzles, and bacon toss. Ag related prizes were given out.
A “Farm Strong” and “ANF” (America Needs Farmers) tattoo station was set up where kids could get temporary tattoos.
A football toss game and pedal pull tractors were also available for kids to ride.
One of the most visited stations was the Ag Across Iowa mobile learning trailer. The trailer is home to a tractor simulator where youngsters can experience driving a tractor from a realistic tractor cab. Participants could also select which implement they would drive across the field.
Several other ag mobile interactive stations were set up featuring livestock producers and how they care for animals on their farms. The county also had educational displays made that were on display to teach youth and adults about modern agriculture practices.
Also as part of the tailgate, the board partnered with Country Custom Design and had Greene County Rams T-shirts made for all fourth through sixth grade youth who are playing flag and tackle football this fall.
The Greene County Farm Bureau board of directors thanked all those who attended its first ever tailgate event. “We hope you had a fun evening, learned something about farming, and enjoyed watching the Greene County Rams youth and high school football players,” McCormick said.
