Landmark Creamery celebrates Swiss traditions during Paoli’s fall festival on October 8

An autumn day trip to Paoli is about as charming as it gets. The crisp weather and the start of the changing colors of the leaves just beg for polka music, bonfires, fire-roasted snacks, and a beer or a splash of bourbon. On October 8 I played a marathon of four hours of Wisconsin polka recordings in a party in the Landmark Creamery parking lot for Paoli’s fall festival.

Paoli is an unincorporated community in the southwest corner of Dane County, Wisconsin. Just a stone’s throw away from Green County which is home to some serious Swiss traditions. It’s the music of this area of Wisconsin that I love to collect. And it’s the cheese of this region that is a part of what makes Wisconsin really special.

The founders of Landmark Creamery in Paoli, Anna Landmark and Anna Thomas Bates, are leaders in Wisconsin’s food scene. Their handcrafted butter and award-winning cheese can be found at select farmers markets and cheese shops. For the fall festival the Annas brought back melted raclette hot dogs which sold out before the festival was over.

I can’t lie though. I did play four hours of Wisconsin polka, but I also snuck in Frankie Yankovic’s Cafe Polka and the live version of the Beer Barrel Polka. Playing the song in Grumpy Old Men and the unofficial anthem of the State of Wisconsin is just giving the people what they want.