MONROE — The Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association’s (WCMA) annual Recognition Awards shine a light on those who have gone above and beyond to contribute to the current and future success of the dairy industry. Each year, honorees are nominated and selected by their peers in industry and are formally recognized at CheeseCon. Klondike Cheese had the honor of receiving three recognitions, all of them have a different impact on the Cheese and Dairy community.
Kristi Wuthrich was honored with the Horace P. Mulloy Award. The WCMA gives this award to the Wisconsin cheesemaker who best demonstrates mastery of the art and science of the craft. Every other year, this award goes to the cheesemaker with the highest average score from a cheese entered in both the 2022 Wisconsin State Fair and the 2023 United States Championship Cheese Contests.
Wuthrich earned a score of 99.75 at the Wisconsin State Fair Dairy Products Contest and 99.80 at the U.S. Championship Cheese Contest for Odyssey Feta cheese. She has been with Klondike Cheese Co. for 16 years and received her cheesemakers license in 2018. She is halfway to reaching a 10-year mark to start on her journey to receive a master certification.
“She has been a valuable asset to cheesemaking at Klondike. We are extremely proud and humbled to have her on our team. She cares about making great cheese every day and shares a passion for the cheese we produce,” said Adam Buholzer.
This year is the 24th year that the award has been presented. A plaque with Kristi’s name was received in honor of Horace P. Mulloy, a WCMA Executive Director and Contest Chairman who served from 1940 through the 1960s. Mulloy dedicated much of his life to the cheese industry, WCMA and to quality cheese manufacturing in Wisconsin.
The second recognition is the Luminary Award that Stan Woodworth, the General Sales Manager at Klondike Cheese, received. The Luminary Award recognizes the contributions of leaders who introduced new concepts, products, or innovative ideas to drive sales in the U.S. and around the world.
Woodworth has dedicated most of his working life to the dairy and cheese industry, starting his career as a fluid milk and field manager to plant manager and then National sales manager with different dairy companies. He then was the Senior Vice President of Channel Management for WMMB, which is now Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin, before he became the General Sales Manager at Klondike Cheese for the last 11 years.
“Anyone whom has had the chance to talk to Stan, quickly will realize he is genuine and has a positive infectious personality which makes him so memorable,” Teena Buholzer said.
The Eggebrecht Award, named for long-time Contest Committee Chairman and “B-Team” founder Brian Eggebrecht, pays tribute to volunteers — members of the famed “B-Team” — who have gone above and beyond to support the Championship Cheese Contests. This year, Dave and Glenda Buholzer were the recipients and shared the award with Gary and Corie Grossen, who also support the contest and are actively involved at Babcock Hall at the University of Wisconsin.
The Buholzer’s lead important aspects of the contests. Dave is integral to managing contest logistics to assure contest entries are shipped and stored in peak condition. For many years Glenda has been a leader of the team preparing cheese samples for cheese-loving consumers who visit the event.
Cheese Con took place in Madison from April 4-6. More than 3,000 representatives of the cheese industry-suppliers, marketers, producers, and sellers were together for the three-day event, which is hosted by WMCA and the Center for Dairy Research (CDR). There were seminars and training sessions along with an exhibition and an awards banquet to announce the top three winners from their respected categories at the biennial United States Championship Cheese Contest.