Weddings rescue a struggling Calif. dairy (LA Times)

[petronius]

Last edited Sun Oct 27, 2013, 03:09 AM - Edit history (1)

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"Lately, it's a trend," said Tony Azevedo, the owner of the Central California dairy, which has been hosting nuptials for more than 20 years. "It's just that they don't call them dairy weddings, because people tend to think about flies and manure. It's 'barn weddings' or 'farm setting.'"

In the latest Kelly Clarkson music video, newlyweds share a kiss in front of Azevedo's cows. The dairy wedding photos of another couple are in a video for country singer Jason Aldean. Antique milk cans and bales of hay are objects of lust on Pinterest, a social media bulletin board particularly favored by brides-to-be.

"This Pinterest thing is my new business partner," said Azevedo, 61, with a shake of his cowboy hat. "Everybody wants to get married in a damn barn and have their picture taken with a cow."

California's dairy industry needs all the help it can get: More than 100 farms went out of business last year alone. Dairy families are hoping that love can save the day by paying some of the bills.

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http://www.latimes.com/local/columnone/la-me-c1-dairy-weddings-20131024-dto,0,5168215.htmlstory

This just struck me as a sweet, fascinating, story. I am very much from the coastal and suburban tribe of Californians, but the Central Valley is a fascinating place to me. It's often overlooked - except when we're railing about water or teabaggers - but there is so much interesting ethnic, economic, and landscape diversity out there...

[mrsadm]

1. How wonderful!

[Le Taz Hot]

2. Yay!

A positive story about the Valley -- they're so rare. Thank you for this. Last weekend we went to Tokyo Gardens in downtown Fresno and had a VERY lovely dinner and drinks, for under $40.00 AND on Sunday nights there's a live jazz band that plays (featuring Brian Hamada on drums -- he's recorded with, like, everybody) with no cover charge. And it's GOOD jazz!

We just had an Ethiopian restaurant that opened up a few block from the house that we want to try. And that's in addition to the Lebanese Restaurant (The Mediterranean) just up the street. We've got every kind of ethnicity in this Valley that you can think of and the food to go with it.