Longtime Marshfield Resident Has Been with Dairyfest Since the Beginning
The Mayor’s Dairy Breakfast kicks off Dairyfest weekend each year in Marshfield, and Shirley Mook has been an integral part of this annual tradition since it was first held in 1981. This year, Mook was named Dairyfest Parade Marshal in honor of her decades of service.
“I’ve been there since the beginning,” said Mook, who moved to Marshfield in 1979 to become the City’s Community Development Director. “In 1980, there was a Dairy Breakfast at the Sternweis Farm and Les Leonard said to Mayor Marilyn Hardacre ‘The City needs to host a breakfast FOR the farmers.’”
“I thought it was a fantastic idea for the City of Marshfield because we are in the heart of dairy country,” she said. “You hear about the Dairy Breakfasts all around but I thought it was such a wonderful event for the City to host, fantastic that the City would host the farmers. It brings attention to our dairy industry.”
The next year, the Mayor’s Dairyfest Breakfast was born. Held in the Marshfield Agricultural Research Station’s Community Room, Mook recalls that first year as “overwhelming”.
“It far exceeded the number of people that they anticipated,” she said. “The next year, they put a tent outside and 1300 people came. It was a booming success.”
Mook’s duties those first two years included escorting politicians around the breakfast. After outgrowing the Research Station room, the breakfast moved to a machine shed on the property, and Mook’s role shifted to “muffin management.”
“The politicians were on their own from then on,” she said.
In her revamped job as Community Development Authority Director, Mook’s role in the breakfast also expanded to involve managing the logistics of the continually growing venture.
“I would get up at 3:00am and I’d be out there at 4:00am, because at that time they 
opened the breakfast at 5:00am,” recalled Mook. The day before the breakfast, she oversaw the process of collecting borrowed salt and pepper shakers, coffee makers, trays, and other assorted items from Cedar Rail and Parkview. The next morning, she would prepare the muffins and butter, help organize volunteers, and move other food items out of coolers.
“One of the things we struggled with in the first two years was the butter, because in those days it wasn’t even sliced,” she said. “Those are days when we had to improvise.”
From the muffins and butter, Mook’s role expanded to include cheese trays, juices, milk, and everything except for the eggs.
“It was also one of my duties to supervise the volunteers,” she said. “Also, to make sure the tables were all full and then later that they were cleaned.”
Managing crises (such as the year they ran out of muffins) and maneuvering new challenges (such as the year they added cheese curds) all fell to Mook.
“Things got better over the years,” she said. “We learned from experience.”
Developments throughout the years, such as paving the machine shed floor and then moving the event to its current location at the Fairgrounds, also improved working conditions and allowed the breakfast to expand even more.
“The breakfast really became Amy Krogman’s job, because she was the Mayor’s secretary. Then the Chamber became involved,” said Mook. “It has just expanded through the years. It was always fun to see if you could break the record every year.”
From its inception to 2014, Mook only missed one Dairyfest Breakfast. Then two years ago, her arthritis prevented her from attending. This year, for the first time, Mook is hoping to attend the breakfast as a guest.
“It is something that I looked forward to every year. It is kind of a landmark event that takes place in Marshfield,” she said. “How many other events do you have year after year after year that have really lasted, that have become almost a permanent fixture?”
Much like the Dairyfest Breakfast, Mook herself is a continual presence in the community, being active in many community and civic organizations. Throughout her years in Marshfield, Mook has always looked forward to the Mayor’s Dairyfest Breakfast.
“I sure did enjoy all of those Dairyfests,” she said. “It’s such a wonderful social time for people. People would get together and talk and see people they hadn’t seen in a long time.”
During a recent Rotary meeting, Mook was named the 2017 Dairyfest Parade Marshal.
“I was shocked.I dropped my fork!I never anticipated anything like that. I’m humbled and honored,” she said. “At the breakfast, I have regrets that I can no longer volunteer. That leaves a vacuum for me. But the parade, that’ll be fun. They told me I had to practice my princess wave.”
The Dairyfest Parade will take place on Saturday, June 3 in downtown Marshfield. The parade starts at 11:00am. Watch it in-person, or live on ExploreMarshfield.com and Marshfield Community Television.
