It’s become a tradition for the first Sunday of the State Fair of Oklahoma in Oklahoma City- we are talking about the DairyMAX Cow to Cone Homemade Ice Cream Contest that was held in the Creative Arts Building at the 2024 State Fair of Oklahoma.
Five judges faced the challenge of sorting through nineteen entries in the 2024 contest in three categories- Vanilla, Fruit and Mixed. Four first time judges were led through the steps of judging each entry by the Oklahoma Farm Report’s Ron Hays- who has been judging this contest since 2010. Other judges included Dairy Farmer Lance Brown, AFR State Secretary Paul Jackson, Dairy MAX’s Adrian Castresana and OSU Grad Student working on her PHD in Animal Welfare, Alexis Main.
The judges sorted through the three categories with a Vanilla Bean recipe winning first in the Vanilla category, a Peach Ice Cream winning in the Fruit Category and a delicious Caramel Apple Pecan Ice Cream grabbing all the first place votes in the Mixed Category
After the judges had rolled through the entries- the public was invited to pay a small fee and have the chance to sample all of the entries and vote for People’s Choice. The winning entry and taking the People’s Choice Purple ribbon was the top Vanilla entry- entered by Cammi Branch. The winning recipe can be seen at the bottom of this story.
After the contest- Hays spent a few moments with third generation dairy farmer Lance Brown of Blanchard- one of the five judges. He and his family milk 250 cows twice a day and are the true definition of a family farm. He says that its not easy but that by growing their own feed and watching costs- they are making it.
Brown’s wife Jamie has embraced the farm life- but did not grow up on a farm. She has taken on the job of raising four kids and telling her story on YouTube and other social media channels- where she is known as Mrs. Milkman. Check out her YouTube Channel by clicking here.
Listen to Lance’s story by clicking on the Listen Bar at the top of this story- and take a look at the Vanilla Bean Ice Cream recipe that was declared the People’s Choice on Sunday.
