Hello world, welcome to WFHR's Rapids Report for this Wednesday, October 15th, 2025.
The show is probably brought to you by Crockett Sceptic.
Thanks for being here.
Here we go, James behind the mic.
We are joined right now by our great friend Sarah Hagnell, Wisconsin, 78th,
Alice in Dairyland.
Sarah, how are you doing?
I am doing so well today, Jim.
Thank you so much for having me on.
It's truly a pleasure to be on the Rapids Report today.
We really, we've been fortunate enough to talk to so many of the Alice's over the years.
We've really enjoyed it.
We've really been enjoying getting to know you a little bit more, Sarah.
How have you been enjoying the crown?
How have you been enjoying this time?
You know, it has been an absolute blast.
And I would love to say I will say that my cup is very full being able to serve as Wisconsin's 78th Alice in Dairyland.
It's really a personal dream come true for me.
And just being able to visit all of the diverse communities across Wisconsin and understand their stories
that make Wisconsin agriculture so special has been the experience of a lifetime so far.
And I'm only three months in, so I'm so excited for what is in store the rest of my time as Alice in Dairyland.
It's really good to hear.
And you know, you mentioned one of my favorite parts about this too in these stories.
And how many great stories there are, especially when involving people involved in our ag industry.
It's really unique and very, very cool.
And I'm happy to hear that for you.
It's really good.
Thank you.
You're mentioning in our pre-game a little bit that you got you're currently about and about some school visits.
Certainly.
I am making my way across Wisconsin doing what's called expedition agriculture, which is a program that has been made possible
through the Wisconsin Ag in the classroom organized program, as well as the Alice in Dairyland program.
Through this, I'm able to help fourth grade students and other young students learn about Wisconsin's specialty crops
and especially what makes Wisconsin such a great agricultural powerhouse in our nation.
Through natural resources, some of the climate that we have, as well as the great people, the great agriculturalists that make agriculture possible.
I'm so excited to share that message with them and help them understand that we grow a lot of really interesting things here in Wisconsin,
as well as raise a lot of really great animals for our food supply.
You mentioned this kind of campaign that you're not kind of, but this campaign, this agricultural tourism campaign that you're currently on.
Let's talk a little bit about that, Sarah.
And what is agricultural tourism?
Why is it important to this state?
This campaign has been such a fun campaign to share with others and help them see how they can find their own egg venture across Wisconsin with agricultural tourism.
For those that may not be familiar, agricultural tourism is any agricultural-based activity that brings visitors to a farm, a ranch, maybe a grove or an orchard, or even a farmer's market,
and really encourages that connection, or perhaps for some a reconnection to agriculture.
So with that, a lot of people are probably doing agricultural tourism and they don't even realize it.
But it is really growing in popularity as travelers are seeking those authentic rural experiences that we have across Wisconsin, including on farmstays, educational tours, unique cooking and dining experiences, which are my personal favorite, and so much more beyond that.
Agriculture itself is the baseline of this and is an important economic driver in our state as it contributes $116.3 billion to our economy annually.
And that all is made possible by our over 58,500 farms in this state that are caring for all of our crops and our animals and our land.
Today, many community members might be several generations removed from the farm, specifically three or four.
So this is really a great invitation to engage with agriculture in a hands-on manner and reconnect with where our food comes from.
One of the things that I think is kind of unique, and I don't know how many other people have seen this, but we've heard for a while now, my generation yours all around, when people are doing things, what are they looking for?
They're looking for an experience. They want to make a memory. They want to have something like that.
And in order to do that, they usually want to get their hands in the dirt. They want to put their hands involved in something.
And we're seeing a lot of our ag industry getting a lot more tourism, getting a lot more of people that we normally wouldn't because of this, because ag gives you that experience.
Whatever we're talking about, from a hay ride to being on a cranberry marsh, you're making a moment, you're making a memory at these places.
Certainly, I could not have said it any better myself. And so many farms are so wanting to give you that experience and open up their doors to not only show you how food production works, but to share their stories and get to know you on a more personal level.
And like you said, whether it's in the fall season with some of those hay rides, busy pumpkin patches, apple orchards, and lots of other things, or stepping into that cranberry marsh during the harvest season and really getting experience, maybe putting on the waiters and even waiting into that bed.
It's a really great memory that you can make with all ages, with a family, with your friends, and create such an unforgettable memory on a Wisconsin farm while learning a lot and having so much fun.
I haven't gotten to a pumpkin patch yet this year. I got to do that. Thank you for the reminder. I got to get up.
What are some, what are some of the educational and recreational opportunities in agricultural tourism that you can tell us about Sarah?
A lot of those are those that we mentioned already, right? Those corn mazes, those apple orchards, those pumpkin patches, especially in the fall season.
One thing that I've really been enjoying are pizza farms that you can find across the state, which really tap into that unique cooking and dining experience.
On these farms, maybe some owners have erected a pizza oven or are creating pizzas right in their home kitchen.
They've raised local ingredients either right on the farm or from other farmers and are using that to make a really delicious meal for you to enjoy against a beautiful backdrop of a rural landscape.
You really can't beat it. There are also farm stays and farm camps that provide that immersive experience that you yourself talked about.
Get your hands dirty. Get some hands on experience with agriculture. Understand what life is like on a real working farm and maybe be able to even help that farmer with some of those daily activities.
Whether it's for a night or maybe an entire week, this is a great way to meet the farming family, maybe experience agriculture for yourself and create those unforgettable memories.
I think people would be surprised how much they connect and that they find a relatability with the ag industry with some of our farmers.
It was something that was brought to light to me coming from the city and everything and moving out here.
My grandparents taken me to a farm and being there like five in the morning and realizing, oh, I remember in the city a lot of the people that worked there started their day at five in the morning too.
And just some of the parallels, some of the connections, it's fun, it's interesting, but I also think that it creates an empathy that is important for people that aren't involved in the ag industry and understanding how important that industry is to our everyday life.
It creates so many layers to it, being doing events like this and being a part of things like this.
Definitely, and like we talked about farmers really do form that backbone for a lot of what we do in our everyday lives, whether it's providing food on our plates, clothes on our back, or maybe fuel in our cars.
There's so many great ways to learn about how farmers are supporting our everyday lives and making sure that we can live vibrant lifestyles.
We're speaking with our elves and Darryl and Sarah with us right now and Sarah, where can people go to find out more about events happening near them or agricultural tours or opportunities across the state?
I am so glad you asked because there are tons of resources out there that people can find. If they're looking for one neat spot where everything is, they can head on out to the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture Trade and Consumer Protection, which has gathered an entire list of these resources for you to browse.
They include travel Wisconsin, the Wisconsin Department of Tourism, the Wisconsin Agricultural Tourism Association, as well as lots of publications that showcase a lot of unique Wisconsin foods and some events.
You can head on out to the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture Trade and Consumer Protection website under Agricultural Development and then Economic Development and the Agricurism homepage is right there.
You can definitely find your next-ag adventure there and no matter the season, summer, winter, spring, or fall, there certainly is something to me everyone's preference in Wisconsin's agricultural tourism industry.
Well said. And when it comes to kind of any additional information, anything that you might want to bring up here that we haven't gotten the chance to talk about, is there any other notes that you wanted to get to?
You know, I just want to reiterate too, Wisconsin is America's Darryland. There's lots of opportunities to see cheese being made across our state and that counts as agricultural tourism too.
There are lots of places you can go that have viewing windows right in their cheese processing facilities to understand how our cheese makers are making over 600 style types and varieties of cheese in Wisconsin.
We also have tons of flower fields that are very popular in the spring and summertime and while we may not actually consume the flowers, we're looking at them taking pictures and finding a lot of that aesthetic value with our sunflower field, some zineas field, and other ones that create a beautiful backdrop for a picture.
There are lots of events and festival happening throughout the year too. June is big for our June, during month breakfast. If you're in the green county area, green county cheese days is big every other year.
There's also the Sun Prairie Sweet Corn Festival, which happened at the end of August to celebrate our sweet corn industry.
We're in Cranberry Festival. I was just at that this year up in Warren, so right in that Wisconsin Rapids area, which celebrates our state fruit and Wisconsin being number one in cranberry production.
So there's certainly a whole plethora of events and festivals to get out to all year round that can help you show your support for Wisconsin agriculture.
Sarah's nice enough to send over some stats and everything to help along with the interview and there was a couple of things that I thought were noteworthy in your notes.
One of them that Wisconsin has over 100 wineries and vineyards that offer tastings and tours throughout the year.
I think a lot of Wisconsinites certainly know that there are some. I don't know that many would have known that there's that many.
And thought about that when it comes to, you know, I'm looking for something to do this weekend or I'm looking for something different that I haven't done before.
Taking one of these tours, doing those kind of things could be a lot of fun.
Certainly, oh yeah, the viticulture industry here in Wisconsin with our vineyards and our wineries is very much thriving.
And especially here in Wisconsin, it's a little different than other parts of the nation because we need those cold hearty grape varieties that provide us with very unique tasting wines.
So on a lot of our wineries and vineyards, you can get a taste of these wines, get a little bit of that fruity sweet flavor that comes with those cold hearty grapes, as well as wines that are mixed with other Wisconsin commodities.
Like apples and cherries, you really can't go wrong if you're looking for a great experience on a Wisconsin winery.
That's a great point. There was just a couple of other things I wanted to mention.
Any, and Sarah, if you haven't learned this about me, it's important that you know this going forward.
Any time I get to talk about maple syrup, I'm going to do it. Love maple syrup.
Me too.
All right, all right, so we're out of the same page here. Wisconsin ranks fourth nationally in maple syrup production, sugar bush tours and maple syrup festivals.
It's very popular course in spring, and then there's things to do certainly throughout the year, but just highlighting that the maple syrup industry, and that was something that I thought was really noteworthy.
I didn't realize it ranked in the top five nationally.
Yes, we have a very strong maple syrup industry. A lot of growers are able to tap our state tree, you know, the maple tree and harvest that maple sap in the sugar bush, which it's known for.
And then they take all of that sap. It takes about 40 gallons of maple sap to boil down into one gallon of maple syrup.
So they are certainly dedicated to their craft to produce us that sticky sweet specialty that we can enjoy in so many facets, especially as this harvest usually happens during the early spring time.
There are many maple syrup festivals that you can head to. One that stands out in my mind, which is in Wayne, Northern Wisconsin, is the Phelps maple syrup festival, very well known for its great festivities, pancake breakfast, and other things that celebrate our maple producers.
Yeah, that's one that I'm booking right now, like I thought I had it already, but I did not have it that that's one I got to get to. I have not been to that one. They've been doing that for a while, haven't they?
Yeah, I was just chatting with some people from Phelps the other day, and this will be one of the longest running maple syrup festivals in the state.
That's really cool. And certainly as we're talking about supporting the ag industry, another great way this time of year corn mases, hay rides, chances are wherever you're listening to us, there is an event like that going on, encourage or do attend those, be a part of them.
It's great. It's great opportunity. And there's really certainly this time of year. There's no time of year that is a bad time to really be able to appreciate our ag industry and take it in a little bit more.
Absolutely. I could not agree with you more. Sarah, thank you so much for the time. Now how busy you are wearing that crown and all the things that you're doing. We appreciate you helping support the ag industry, support the state and promoting so many of these things and certainly joining us on the air here.
We're looking forward to talking again real soon. If people want to reach out to you, if they want to know more about what you're doing, how can they find out more?
I am on social media that I post to just about every day on Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn. So if people are curious about keeping up with Alice and seeing what I'm up to every day, they can head on out to my social media pages.
I also do have a website, Alice and Darrylian.com. That folks can go out to to see to take a deep dive on some of the Wisconsin communities that I'm covering, as well as get a more in depth look at some of my months as I'm traveling.
There's also an event request on our web page that you can submit to see if Alice might be able to attend an event that you have coming up.
It's a great idea, especially when it comes to our schools out there. I can't think of many better, you know, things for kids to look up to than our Alice and Darrylian and Sarah is just doing an amazing job at this.
So bring her to town, bring her to your events, reach out to her and find out more. And we're looking forward to talk with you again real soon. Safe travels out there, Sarah. You take care.
Thank you so much. Thank you so much for having me on. It has been such a pleasure and I look forward to the next time we get to chat.
Looking forward to it. Thank you everybody for joining us for another edition of WFHR's Rapids Report.
