93 members
Blair, Wisconsin
Trempealeau and Jackson County
Tell us about your chapter. We have a strong FFA chapter in Blair-Taylor. We have won the membership award at the state convention for the past two years and have had increasing participation in activities every year. Members have traveled to judge at World Dairy Expo, the University of Wisconsin-Platteville, and leadership development event contests. Six members have completed proficiency and received gold, silver and bronze. The goal is to increase that number every year and have some members apply for their state degree this coming year.
How does your chapter volunteer in the community throughout the year? We work at events such as the Blair Cheese Festival and the Taylor FFA Memorial Day Tractor and Truck Pull, which is hosted annually to help the two alumni groups that support us greatly throughout the year. At each of these events, members serve food, walk in the parade, help with admissions and registration, and many other things. During January we do a Christmas tree pick up, and July 3, we serve cheese curds and milkshakes at Fireworks over Blair. Each year we add more events, and we are looking forward to adding more.
What fundraisers does your chapter do throughout the year? Which is the most successful? We have two main fundraisers throughout the year with the addition of our greenhouse sale in the spring. We sell the famous FFA fruit, nuts and popcorn in the fall, which is always a huge hit in our community; we do very well on this. The Blair-Taylor FFA also sells strawberries in the spring. This one is slowly coming into our program, but we do well with them as well. Our most successful fundraiser is either of these as our community has so much support for our program and we are able to profit greatly from these to put back towards leadership conferences and conventions for the kids.
What are the biggest events of the year? The biggest events of the year would probably be the Blair Cheese Fest and Taylor Pull as we focus on the community and get to give back to those who support us. We also have an Elementary Agriculture Day where the entire elementary comes out to learn about all the fun agriculture stations our members design. It’s always a hit.
What is unique about your chapter? The most unique thing about our chapter is how excited the middle school members get to participate and reap the benefits of their volunteering. They love to sign up for events and be active! We also have two alumni groups, which is super unique but is so fortunate for our members because of the endless support we get from each one.
When was your chapter founded and how has it evolved? From our findings, the Blair FFA Chapter was founded in January 1930, and Taylor FFA was chartered in April 1943. Since then, we have joined to be one, Blair-Taylor FFA, and have maintained a strong, passionate group advocating for agriculture. Our program has gone in spurts with membership, but we have been on an uphill climb in numbers and participation and our goals each year keep growing. We are very proud and excited to see where Blair-Taylor FFA grows next.
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