The ultimate game-day experience

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — Standing on the turf during pregame and halftime of a Minnesota Vikings game with thousands of fans watching is how Dale and Lisa Middendorf spent their first game at U.S. Bank Stadium.

“I’m a Vikings fan and that was a fun experience to be down (on the field) like that,” Dale said. “There is so much energy there. The vastness of the stadium was almost overwhelming.”

Dale and Lisa and their two children, Kari and Sawyer, attended the Jan. 4 Minnesota Vikings versus Green Bay Packers game in Minneapolis. Not only was the family in attendance, but they also were able to get an on-field experience during the pregame festivities, watched the game in the Land O’Lakes suite, and then were able to participate in an on-field contest sponsored by Land O’Lakes during halftime. Dale and Lisa’s son, Devon, and his wife, Christine, were unable to attend the game that day.

“Land O’Lakes wanted to do this contest, Butter Bowl, with us and a dairy farm family from Wisconsin,” Dale said. “We … got (to) be right on the sidelines for the pre-game. That was pretty cool.”

Dale and Lisa milk 80 cows near Melrose and ship their milk with Land O’Lakes Inc.

During the Butter Bowl, the Middendorf family and the Gries family of Wisconsin, competed against one another for the chance to win tickets for the Vikings versus Packers game in the 2026-2027 season. 

Greg Gries and his family milk 400 cows at Libertyland Farms near Valders, Wisconsin. Gries attended the game with his daughter, Jenna, and her fiance, Ben Lukasek.

“We were asked to participate in some friendly halftime competition, and it was great to be on the same field as the players,” Gries said.

The Middendorf family represented team ‘salted’ and the Gries family represented team ‘unsalted.’

“We started in the end zone, and had to carry a stick of butter on a spatula and weave through this obstacle course.” Lisa said. “I did the course then handed off the spatula to our daughter, Kari, and she had to throw a ball at a target, once she did that, then Kari handed the spatula to our son, Sawyer, and he had to do a 40-yard dash. If anyone dropped the stick of butter, they had to stop and pick it back up only using the spatula.”

Each member of the Middendorf and Gries families then had to kick a field goal.

“We could pick from kicking at the 5, 10 or 15 yard-line and each yard-line was worth more points,” Dale said. “I tried the 5 yards and didn’t make it. The kicker on the other team was the kicker on his high school football team and was much younger than us.”

The Gries family won the challenge and the tickets for the game next season. 

“It was an honor to represent all the hardworking dairy farm families of the U.S.,” Gries said. “That was the best part of this experience.”

Both families will receive a 1-year supply of butter from Land O’Lakes.

“When we did the contest, they had two former Vikings be our coaches,” Dale said. “We had Jim Kleinsasser as our coach.”

For the Middendorfs, their journey to U.S. Bank Stadium was set in motion two years ago. Kari, who works for Land O’Lakes, asked her parents if she could bring some coworkers from the marketing department out to the family farm in rural Minnesota.

“Most of them have never set foot on a farm even though they work for Land O’Lakes,” Lisa said.

The following summer, when the Land O’Lakes marketing team was looking for a dairy farm to host a music video for a country singer, they turned to the Middendorf family.

“We said yeah sure, not thinking anything would actually happen,” Lisa said. “Then some folks from Land O’Lakes came out and looked at the place and started talking about how they are going to make this happen.”

On Aug. 19, 2025, country music artist Hailey Whitters and a production team with Land O’Lakes spent the day at the Middendorf dairy farm taking videos and photographs.

“We set up a little spot with some bales and some freestanding panels and we let some cows out by the shed where they wanted to do it,” Lisa said. “Hailey sang a song right at sunset and they filmed it.”

The film crew took footage of everyday farming aspects in addition to the music video.

“That day, we happened to have a couple of fresh cows and the video crew recorded it,” Dale said. “They were all in such awe, and meanwhile for us that is just an everyday occurrence.”

The Middendorfs said Land O’Lakes and Hailey Whitters are collaborating since Hailey is an agriculture advocate.

“As a thank you for hosting the concert, Land O’Lakes invited us to come to the Vikings and Packers game,” Lisa said. “They sent us an email saying there will be a contest at half time to participate in but didn’t say exactly what it would be.”

Land O’Lakes also collaborated at the game with the Minnesota Vikings for a hunger relief initiative and agreed to donate 1 ton of food to Second Harvest Heartland for every point scored in the Jan. 4 game. The game ended with a score of 16-3, Minnesota. Land O’Lakes in turn, rounded up the points and donated 20 tons of food to Second Harvest Heartland.

Their first game-day at U.S. Bank Stadium the Middendorfs said was a memorable one.

“The experience of going to the game and getting to go on the field was enough for us, so getting the butter was an added bonus,” Dale said. “It’s amazing how loud it is in there, down on the field. It sure was something to be down there and see so many people all around us.”

Dale and Lisa said saying yes to Kari bringing some co-workers to their farm led them to their ultimate game-day.

“When you get asked to do things like this, if you say no, it closes a door, if you say yes, you never know where it is going to lead you,” Lisa said. “For us, it led us to a Vikings game with the opportunity to get down on the field and sit in a suite. You have to promote agriculture when you can.”