D2—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, June 6,1981
Pa, Dairy Month dawns in different ways
BY DICK ANGLESTEIN
CAPITOL BUILDING,
HARRISBURG—
DAIRY FARMS, LANCASTER
COUNTY -
Dairy Month was ushered into
Pennsylvania this past Monday in
many and different ways. Here are
just two of these contrasting
openings for the observance of the
Commonwealth’s largest
agricultural enterprise.
In die Capitol Building, the harsh
glare of TV and other flood lights
mercilessly beat down on Gov.
Dick Thornburgh as he signs the
official Dairy Month Proclamation
- just one of 10 special citations
issued in an hour-long, production
line proclamation session.
Meanwhile on dairy farms,
business goes on as usual amidst
gentle, warming sunshine spiced
with cooling breezes throughout
most of the day.
By decree of state officialdom
and in rapid-fire succession of
frenzied movements, June - as
Dairy Month - is shared with
Recreation and Parks Month, the
150th anniversary of New Cum
berland, Safe Boating Week, Jazz
Month, Lady Keystone Open Week,
the Muscular Dystrophy poster
child, the Pa. Ambassadors of
Music, Newsboy Day of the
Variety Clubs of Philadelphia and
a photo session to publicize safe
driving for the reopening of schools
even before they close.
V
Back in the pastures, the only
movement is the occasional,
casual step or two as a member of
the herd ambles toward a more
succulent clump of grass.
The governor grabs a
promotional beach towel and
models It for cameramen. Its
message is part of the Real Food
Campaign, proclaiming “Milk. It’s
the soft soft drink.”
In more than one Lancaster
County pasture, cows lounge
beside a stream - the real rural
sunbathers. They blend har
moniously into the picturesque
as television media event & on the farm
✓
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countryside of a lazy stream, rich
green meadow and recently
cultivated fields stretching off into
the horizon.
Another Star Wars-spawned
robot abruptly injects its futuristic
self into the Dairy Month
Proclamation Ceremony, joking
with the Governor and turning him
into his comedic straight man.
If only the land and grazers fall
into your gaze, time appears to
stand still in the dairy pastures and
possibly even turns back. The
scenes may have been similar in
these pasturelands for a century,
possibly even two or more.
As the governor moves from one
proclamation to another, they
seemingly clash directly with each
other. Now, 1 ask you sincerely -
should it be jazz in Dairy Month?
As Dairy Month dawned, the
herd more likely was milked to the
softer, more lamenting tones of
country and western or music
accompanying the morning
devotions.
Off on die sidelines, the DER
awaits its turn to promote parks
and recreation and the duffers
stand ready to bally-hoo the Lady
Keystone Open.
Will this become another pasture
or segment of farmland to fall prey
to a recreation area or golf course
or, even worse, another residential
or commercial development?
Thus another segment of
Americana becomes part of an
electronic media event. Just as TV
has moved into a position to call
die shots in everything from the
way we elect presidents to when a
time-out is called in a football
game, it now dominates
proclamations, such as Dairy
Month, turning them Into
assembly-line mini-productions to
save the wear and tear on
cameramen and announcers.
It’s miles and another world
away as Dairy Month begins on the
farms. Let’s hope that separation
continues and it remains that way
forever.
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