Alice returns to her roots

By AMANDA LUTEY Staff Reporter | Posted: Thursday, August 19, 2010

Wisconsin’s 63rd Alice in Dairyland, Christine Lindner holds her niece, Mackinsey Lepple at the Dodge County Fair on Thursday. A Beaver Dam native, Lindner first showed at the Dodge County Fair in 1998 as a member of the Beaver Dam High School FFA.

Wisconsin's 63rd Alice in Dairyland returned to her roots on Thursday by visiting the Dodge County Fair.

"It's so fun to be back here at the Dodge County Fair," said Christine (Lepple) Lindner, originally from Beaver Dam.

She said that she first showed at the Dodge County Fair 12 years ago. Lindner now lives in rural Fall River with her husband, and is serving a one-year term as Wisconsin's Agriculture Ambassador.

She said that her two older brothers now work in partnership with her father on the family's 80-cow dairy farm where she grew up.

"It's incredible to know that the family farm is continuing to move forward. That's what Wisconsin agriculture is all about," Lindner said.

She graduated from Beaver Dam High School in 2001, where she was active in the FFA, and served as a state FFA officer. She said she met her husband through FFA.

In her first year showing at the fair, she earned a reserve champion with her dairy beef steer. She went on to graduate with honors in 2006 from the University of Wisconsin - Madison with a degree in agricultural journalism. She has spent three years as the marketing manager for ANIMART, responsible for the company's marketing, communications and public relations initiatives.

Lindner said that she met Alice in Dairyland when she was in the fourth grade at South Beaver Dam Elementary School.

"I was just captivated," Lindner said. "And 16 years later, here I am."

As Alice in Dairyland, Lindner will travel about 40,000 miles across Wisconsin, working to promote agriculture. She said that agriculture is so diverse in Wisconsin, and that people can see that at county fairs.

"It's our foundation and our future," Lindner said. "Fairs really embody that."

She just spent 11 days at the State Fair in Milwaukee, which she said brings the farm to the city. She took part in the celebrity cream puff competition and worked to promote Wisconsin-grown products through Taste Wisconsin presentations to help people understand Wisconsin's diverse agriculture.

Lindner said that her favorite parts of the fair are the youth exhibits and animals. "Agriculture, family, food and fun, that's what embodies the fair," Lindner said.

alutey@capitalnewspapers.com

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