Looking for off-the-beaten-path fun for the whole family? Harvard Milk Days on June 1-3 with kickoff events starting in mid-May.

Harvard Milk Days is a time-honored weekend of events you won’t soon forget. Via car, Pace bus or Metra train (Harvard is the end of the Union Pacific/Northwest Line), this is the perfect time to plan your trip to Harvard.

“Once  again,  Milk  Days  will  have  something for all ages including a kids dash early in the morning on Saturday, a two-mile run/walk and 10K run for the ambitious, a two-plus-hour parade, carnival, concessions with all sorts of different foods, petting zoo, Junior Dairy Cattle Show, a talent show on Saturday, nightly entertainment from Friday through Sunday and our grand finale fireworks display on Sunday night,” said Office Administrator Wanda Marzahl.

More than 100 volunteers donate time to make each year a huge success.

“I don’t know of too many places where you can put out your blankets and lawn chairs two nights before the parade, and they will still be there the day of the parade,” Marzahl said of Harvard’s neighborly, small-town atmo-sphere. “I’m originally from a city of 32,000, but when I moved here as a teenager, I was welcomed right away from an older couple who stopped me on Ayer Street to welcome me to Harvard. It’s a great family town.

“Milk Days weekend finds a lot of folks back for the festival, who have grown up in Harvard, but moved away,” she added. “It’s a family reunion — a chance to catch up with friends and family.”    

Don’t leave Harvard without getting your mug taken with Harvard’s famous fiberglass cow Harmilda! Since 1966, Harmilda the Cow has been the symbol of Harvard Milk Days (Har-Mil-Da, get it?). Find her and her bovine buddies at the junction of highways 14 and 173, and Ayer Street.

>> For more information about Harvard Milk Days, visit www.milkdays.com.

Sidebar: Kickoff and Main Harvard Milk Days Events …
•    Queen Coronation
•     Prince and Princess Contest
•    Big Wheel Races
•    Bed Races
•    Antique Tractor Display
•    Milk Run/Walk & 10K Run
•    Carnival Rides
•    Milk Days Brunch
•    Milk Days Parade
•    Youth Parade
•    Free Milk/Dean Foods
•    Milk Drinking Contest