Over two hundred visitors attended Dairy Day at the Sam Rayburn House Museum on Saturday, October 25. This event celebrated Sam Rayburn’s work in electrifying rural America and his own challenges as a rural dairy farmer prior to electricity. Dairy Day also gave residents of Bonham a chance to celebrate Museum Month which is held annually during October.  

One of the first activities during Dairy Day was a homemade ice cream contest.  Contestants were asked to prepare their own ice cream and submit it for judging. The one stipulation along with the ice cream being homemade, was that it must include Grape-nuts. Grape-nut ice cream was a favorite treat in the Rayburn home. Rebecca McLaughlin was the first prize winner of the contest and Chas Hansen placed second. Melody Michaud organized the contest with help from judges Fannin County Sheriff Kenneth Moore and Bonham Police Chief Mike Bankston.   

Brookshire’s Grocery and Oak Farms Dairy each had their own booths during the event. Brookshire’s employees gave away free ice cream cones and ice cream novelties to guests. Oak Farms passed out free flavored and regular milk to visitors. The Bonham High School FFA took part in the event by showcasing two Hereford cows (similar to those Sam Rayburn once raised). The FFA members also gave demonstrations about steer roping which visitors were able to try out for themselves on practice forms. Fannin County 4-H clubs and Fannin County Extension Agent Roger Skipper gave horse demonstrations and rides. John Heslep of Trenton provided beautiful guitar and vocal music throughout the day.  

The Southwest Dairy Farmers Museum, located in Sulphur Springs, Texas, came to the event with two different programs. Aaron Sanders of the museum gave a program about milking cattle. The mobile dairy unit consists of a cow and milking machine all contained inside a traveling trailer. During the mobile dairy unit presentation, visitors learned about how milking is done and how the milk is processed before it arrives at the grocery store. The mobile dairy unit included a Jersey cow, which are the same breed of dairy cattle that Sam Rayburn raised and bred on his dairy farm. The Southwest Dairy Farmers Museum also gave a cheese-making demonstration. Instructor Johnny Anderson demonstrated how pioneers made pot cheese. 

Sam Rayburn House Museum staff presented a program about the history of the Rayburn Dairy farm and the milking operation and its evolution. This program included hands-on activities for children and adults. Participants made butter by shaking heavy whipping cream in glass jars and making ice cream using the old fashioned crank machine. Throughout the day museum staff and volunteers gave rural-electrification- related tours of the house museum. Much of the tour theme was related to the museum’s current exhibit, “Plugging into Power: Sam Rayburn and Rural Electrification.”   

The Sam Rayburn House Museum and the Texas Historical Commission would like to thank the following sponsors for their contributions and assistance in making Dairy Day successful: Blue Bell Ice Cream, Brookshire’s Grocery, Bonham High School FFA, Center for American History, University of Texas at Austin, Fannin County 4-H, Fannin County Extension Office, Friends of Sam Rayburn, Oak Farms Dairy, Sonic Drive-In, Southwest Dairy Farmers Museum and all the great volunteers.