I would like to welcome you to a first annual event at Wegmueller Farm. There will be food. There will be vendors. There will be drinks. There will be prizes. There will be photo opportunities. There will be horses. On Saturday May 2, in conjunction with Monroe Chamber of Commerce and Industry, we cordially invite you to the first annual Derby Day Celebration at Wegmueller Farm. But first, a little backstory:
About a decade ago, I recognized that the farm needed to change. Up until 2018, Wegmueller Farm was very much a traditional Wisconsin dairy farm — we milked about 50 cows, raised a small herd of dairy beef steers, and farmed roughly 700 acres. Life was good — we could make a comfortable living purely from farm income right up until 2018.
On an otherwise normal spring morning I was struck by the realization that I needed to change the farm in a significant way, or else it would get squeezed out of existence by the consolidation happening across the Ag industry. History has proven this realization correct: Wisconsin led the nation in farm bankruptcies through the COVID pandemic and is seeing a 700% uptick in farm bankruptcies from 2024 into 2025. By some estimates, Wisconsin has lost nearly 70% of its farms since 2018. Ours was very nearly one of the many.
If small farms are going to survive going into the future, they will need to develop a direct-to-consumer relationship of some sort. Simply said, farmers and consumers need to reconnect. This was the realization that struck me in 2018 — farming is an incredibly special pursuit, and to grow up on a farm endows one with life lessons and skillsets that will never go out of style. In an age where we are losing our farms and farmers, it is imperative to reverse this trend. The future of Wegmueller Farm will be to celebrate the connection farmers have with the natural world and our animals, and to share this connection with you.
The Chamber Derby at the farm is exactly that — a celebration of the human-horse relationship. There will be a live stream of the Kentucky Derby. There will be appropriately-themed drinks and food, all geared towards a localized version of the most exciting two minutes in sports. We will feature a lineup of our own horses, and others, representing a wide range of equine breeds including a full-size clydesdale, palominos, paints, quarter horses, donkeys, and little-but-mighty shetland ponies. Choose your champion — place friendly wagers amongst the horses as we feature a tongue-in-cheek competition amongst the breeds in conjunction with the actual Derby race.
Saturday, May 2 is also the day of Monroe High School Senior Prom. Tell your kids and tell your grandkids there will be designated spots for photo opportunities, free of charge. Discover the perfect photo backdrop with restored classic farm tractors, antique pickup trucks, airplanes from the Golden Age of aviation; all situated amongst picturesque farm buildings and against the rolling hills of Green County. Although Chaz the horse is retired from active duty and will not participate in this year’s horse lineup, he stands tall and noble as a perfectly groomed photo companion and never shies from the camera. No joke, this horse literally flexes his muscles and poses for the perfect glamour shot. Bottom line is, the exquisiteness of capturing the perfect memory at this year’s Chamber Derby shall be second to none.
And speaking of exquisiteness, the one disadvantage of owning a farm is there are very few opportunities to dress up in formal attire. When your office is a milking parlor or the cab of a tractor, you miss out on the chance to indulge in flashy suit coats, designer shoes, loud ties, and flowered, wide-brimmed hats. The Chamber Derby will change the stigmatism of getting dressed up on a farm. In fact, we are encouraging any and all participants to dress appropriately for the biggest day in horse racing. Think Churchill Downs fancy — there will be contests for the Best Hat and Best Dressed, so by all means — dress to impress. Have fun! Or, if fancy dress is not your thing, go casual. All attire is welcome.
Most importantly, the Chamber Derby is a ticketed event. In order to best serve all participants while also minimizing food waste, please take the time to get your tickets as soon as possible. Tickets and further information can be found at the Monroe Chamber of Commerce and Industry website and by navigating to the Events Page at https://www.monroechamber.org.
Now more than ever, it is imperative to support and build one another up, and we must start at the community level. If we are to heal as a nation, we must reevaluate our relationship with the natural world, the food we eat, the animals we care for, and the manner in which we relate to our fellow citizens. The Chamber Derby is a celebration of our community members and local businesses at the foundational level.
Come join the fun, support the horses, and help us celebrate Derby Day at Wegmueller Farm.
— Dan Wegmueller is the owner of Wegmueller Farms and his column appears regularly in the Times. His website is https://www.farmforthought.org.
