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Wisconsin State Cow Chip Throw

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On the Friday and Saturday before Labor Day, a festival known as the Wisconsin State Cow Chip Throw takes place in Sauk City/Prairie du Sac, Wisconsin. An estimated 40,000 people attend each year. The current record for a throw is 248 feet, set by Greg Neumaier of Sauk Prairie in 1991. The women’s record is 157 feet, 5 inches, set by Oak Creek’s Terry Wallschleger of Oak Creek in 2005.

Perhaps a little background will help explain the historical significance of the cow chip and the genesis of the festival.
wisconsin state cow chip throw

The pioneers who settled the Plains in the 1800s faced cold winters with little water and timber. Hunters had discovered that dried buffalo dung patties, or chips, could be burned for fuel. They were odorless and burned with intense heat and no soot.

The buffalo were all but gone by that time, hunted out of existence, so settlers gathered cow chips and stored them for winter when they would rely on them to warm their homes and keep their cooking fires burning. The chips were so valuable that they were often used to barter for food and other provisions.

In 1970, organizers of the Cimarron Territory Celebration in Beaver, Oklahoma, trademarked the “World Championship Cow Chip Throw,” requiring other towns wishing to host an “official” throw to certify their events with the Beaver Chamber of Commerce. (So far, it has authorized throws in South Dakota and Illinois, as well as Wisconsin.)

In 1975, the Sauk Prairie Jaycees declared the Sauk Prairie area as the Cow Chip Capital of Wisconsin and, with Beaver’s blessings, organized the first Wisconsin State Cow Chip Throw. In 1989, the Wisconsin State Legislature proclaimed the cow chip the Unofficial State Muffin.

wisconsin state cow chip throw

According to the Wisconsin State Cow Chip Throw Committee, the following rules apply to today’s Corporate Throw and tomorrow’s Men’s and Women’s Throws. In the event of a dispute, the Chip Judge has the final say.

  1. Each contestant must choose two chips from the wagon-load provided by the official Meadow Muffin Committee.
  2. Chips shall be at least 6 inches in diameter.
  3. Of the two chips, the one thrown the farthest shall count.
  4. If a chip breaks up during the throw or while in the air, the piece that travels the greatest distance will be scored.
  5. Any attempt to alter the shape of a chip—except in rare instances when a loose fragment may be removed, provided the removal does not render the chip less than 6 inches in diameter—will result in a 25-foot penalty. The decision of the Chip Judge will be final.
  6. While no gloves may be worn while throwing, licking your hands is allowed to get a better grip.

That last one is optional, folks.

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National #2 Pencil Day

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Today is National #2 Pencil Day. Though this holiday’s provenance is unclear, there’s no question that this classic writing instrument has made its mark on history. (Sorry, had to do it.)

There’s no lead in a pencil; its core is made of graphite. According to Britannica, it was initially believed to be a type of lead. We’ve used the misnomer “pencil lead” ever since. After the discovery of a large deposit in Borrowdale, England, in the 1500s, shepherds found that the black mineral was perfect for marking sheep—and humans quickly realized it worked on paper too.

In the late 1700s in France, Nicolas-Jacques Conté developed a process to mix clay with graphite to control its hardness. Over time, manufacturers around the world instituted their own grading variations, but here in the US, a simple system has prevailed. There are four basic designations, from #1 (softest and darkest) to #4 (hardest and lightest).

The #2 pencil won out because early machines like the Scantron that scored standardized tests required moderately dark, easily legible marks. (Remember filling in those multiple-choice bubbles?) The #2 had the perfect balance of darkness and smudge resistance while being soft enough to easily erase. More modern scanners didn’t have that issue, but the #2 was already established, and it has remained, well, #1 ever since.

An oft-repeated “fact” states that each standard pencil can draw a line about 35 miles long (or write roughly 45,000 words). On May 4, 2007, Keith Eldred of Hollidaysburg(!), PA, put pencil to paper to test that assertion. On June 9, he and a group of volunteers finished transcribing To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. The novel has about 90,000 words. We love a good debunking!

Per Guinness World Records, the longest pencil measured 1091.99 m (3582 ft and 7.73 in) and was achieved by BIC in Samer, France, on 10 October 2017. The pencil was made out of a graphite center encased in polystyrene, making it flexible and light so it could be easily assembled and then measured without having to hold it in a straight line and support the weight of the wood. Personally, we think this is cheating, and we’re surprised Guinness allowed it. BIC’s mechanical pencil is a cheat in itself, with its graphite snapping off so easily and its woefully inadequate eraser. But we digress.

What should you do today? Why not journal by hand, sketch and shade, write a note to a friend, jot down a grocery list, or just sharpen one and let the smell of pencil shavings take you back like a grade-school version of Proust’s madeleine.

No matter how you choose to celebrate, have a happy National #2 Pencil Day!

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Beans ‘n’ Franks Day

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Today is Beans ‘n’ Franks Day. July is National Hot Dog Month. July 14 is National Hot Dog Day. We’ve no idea when hot dogs and baked beans were first combined.

The 500th birthday of the frankfurter was celebrated in Frankfurt, Germany, in 1987. Citizens of Vienna (Wien), Austria, dispute Frankfurt’s claim, citing their city’s name as proof the wiener was invented there.

The dish known as baked beans is of unknown provenance. In most recipes, then as now, beans were stewed, not baked. It was one of the first canned convenience foods, eaten by soldiers during the American Civil War.

Somewhere along the way, franks were added to the beans. It was a match made in culinary heaven. Whether you enjoy them separately or together, have a happy Beans ‘n’ Franks Day!

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RIP World Championship Rotary Tiller Race

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June 25, 2025: When we first wrote about the World Championship Rotary Tiller Race, we thought the tradition would last forever. Unfortunately, 2022 marked the 32nd and final PurpleHull Pea Festival and Rotary Tiller Race. That’s unfortunate because, as you can see from our write-up, it was a great reason to travel to Emerson, Arkansas.

world championship rotary tiller raceJune 25, 2016: Today is the World Championship Rotary Tiller Race, the main event of the PurpleHull Pea Festival in Emerson, Arkansas. In 1990, Emerson native and part-time newspaper columnist Glen Eades decided his hometown needed a little excitement. As he explained, “We were so boring we didn’t even have a cop.”

He approached Mayor Joe Mullins about hosting a festival to honor a southern favorite grown in many local backyards: purple hull peas. Several town meetings were held to discuss the idea, and somewhere along the way, Eades suggested a rotary tiller race. Mullins remembers thinking, “Glen, I don’t know what you’ve been drinking, but you need to change brands.” The plan was approved, and the PurpleHull Pea Festival became a reality.

Since then, it has grown in size and stature, winning the 2001 Arkansas Festival of the Year Award. Over the years, the World Championship Rotary Tiller Race has evolved, too. Its website proclaims:

There simply is no other event like it.  Unique among motor sports, we like to say it is the highlight of the tiller racing season. ‘Course, to the best of our knowledge, our one-day event is the tiller racing season.

Following a brouhaha cryptically referred to as the “Great Tiller Racing Controversy of ’93,” festival organizers created the World Tiller Racing Federation to write and enforce official rules governing all races. One such rule dictates that the racetrack must be exactly 200 feet in length. Another requires that racers, called tiller pilots, wear shoes. (Believe it or not, up until that point, some chose to compete in bare feet.)

The event has become so famous that The Wall Street Journal has sent a reporter to cover today’s race for its column on odd topics. In recent years, the festival’s Antique Tractor Show & Competition has held two races of its own: the Barrel Push, which is pretty self-explanatory, and the Slow Race, in which contestants try to keep the tractor running at the lowest possible speed without stalling.

The PurpleHull Pea Pageant judges age groups from 0-11 months all the way to 16 years and up. According to the signup sheet, “Contestants will be rated on Facial Beauty, Stage Presentation/Personality and overall appearance,” winners of “Side Awards: Most Beautiful, Photogenic, Fashion, Prettiest Hair, Prettiest Smile” will receive a trophy, and “All Queens will receive a Nice Crown, Sash & Trophy.”

Zero months? We’re going to go out on a limb and say that if your daughter’s too young to hold up her own head with or without a crown on it, she’s probably too young to enter a beauty contest. Your time would be better spent making sure your husband keeps his shoes on for the race.

Admission is free to the Tiller Race, Tractor Show, Pup-Pea Dog Show, Pea Shelling Competition, Big Daddy’s Hot Water Cornbread Greatrip PurpleHull Peas & Cornbread Cook Off, the Million Tiller Parade, and “Pea-tacular” Fireworks Show.

To raise money, each year festival organizers choose a group of “Tiller Girls,” teenagers who roam through the crowd watching the race. According to the site,

They’re there for two reasons.  First, for visual stimulation.  Second, to take up donations. The Tiller Girl who collects the largest total amount of donations earns points toward winning the title of Tiller Goddess.

Oh, thank goodness. We were worried it might be something creepy.

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