The cows have come home.
Or at least they’ve come to town.
Areas of Litchfield became figurative pastures recently as city workers and First District Association representatives placed 18 fiberglass cows in 16 locations throughout the city, launching the summer’s Litchfield Downtown Cowtown promotion.
“Isn’t this fun?” said Darlene Kotelnicki, a Litchfield City Council member whose idea sparked the promotion. “People have been really looking forward to this.”
Downtown Cowtown is a celebration of First District Association’s 100th anniversary, first and foremost. The local dairy processing plant was founded in 1921, and with its centennial year approaching looked at a variety of ways to celebrate with the community. The cooperative also plans to build a dairy-themed playground at South Park, just south of its production facility, along with other projects yet to be announced.
But along with celebrating First District Association’s longevity and success in the community, it’s hoped that Downtown Cowtown will bring residents and visitors into Litchfield’s downtown area, where most of the cows are located. And it’s all for a good cause, too. Each of the cows was decorated in its own theme with a nonprofit organization in mind. At the end of the summer, they will be auctioned off, with proceeds going to the nonprofit associated with each cow.
Troy Gassman, engineering project manager at First District Association, said Kotelnicki contacted him last year about the cooperative’s centennial plans and suggested collaboration with the Litchfield Downtown Council, of which she’s a member. Kotelnicki suggested that FDA consider a visible representation of the dairy industry — and what would be better than cows.
Kotelnicki had seen the decorated buffalo positioned around the city of Buffalo and thought something similar — but more appropriately aligned with Litchfield’s dairy history — might be a good fit. She talked to Bob Huffman, FDA’s chief executive officer, who quickly agreed to the idea.
First District Association ordered the fiberglass cows, which were paid for by donations from contractors who are working on the dairy facility’s expansion project.
Eighteen nonprofit organizations were selected as beneficiaries of the fundraising portion of Downtown Cowtown. Some of the organizations decorated their own cow, while some cows were decorated by individuals or private companies in support of a nonprofit.
Among the groups decorating cows were a preschool and daycare facility, whose young children became quite attached to the cows as they decorated them.
“The kids had fun,” Kotelnicki said. “They waved, ‘Bye, Cow,’ when they came to pick up the cows. It was pretty neat.”
And it wasn’t just children having fun, according to Kotelnicki. Parkview Café, which decorated one of the cows in a chef’s hat and restaurant theme, nicknamed their cow “Bovine Irvine," a salute to celebrity chef Robert Irvine and, of course, the dairy industry. Meanwhile, Litchfield Downtown Council nicknamed the cow it decorated with historic buildings “Alfie” in honor of Anderson Chemical Company founder Alfred Anderson.
Other people — like residents of Lincoln Apartments, where one of the cows was placed — expressed excitement for the cow’s arrival and what it would mean for them.
“They can’t wait to watch it,” Kotelnicki said. “They said, ‘We’re just going to people watch.’ It’s going to be fun for them, and it’s going to be fun for people to come and see all of the cows.”
