Weyauwega plant produces 3,832 feet of string cheese
By Holly Neumann
Only in Wisconsin will you find hundreds of people standing 6 feet apart down Main Street to take part in a world record attempt for the longest piece of string cheese.
But this is exactly what happened in Weyauwega, on June 24 in honor of June Dairy Month.
“This is exciting,” said Mike Knaus. “My dad Jim set the record back in 2006 with a piece of string cheese that was about 2,000 feet long. Our goal here today is to beat that record and I think we will do it.”
Jim Knaus bought Weyauwega Star Dairy in in 1975. The business is now run by his sons Mike and Gerard.
“This is all for our dad,” said Gerard. “He helped us, so this is still going to be his record. This is a sure sign that he has made his mark on this community.”
A tractor pulling a trailer, held the cheese that was slowly unwound into the hands of those lining the street.
Some people cheered as they held their part of the record breaking cheese, while others were thinking with their stomachs.
“I was researching something for us to do today,” said Michelle Most, who was visiting the area from Spokane, Washington. “I have never seen anything like this. We are glad to be a part of this.”
“I hope we get to eat some of this,” said Josie Scott, age 8. “I love string cheese.”
“This is a great way to show my support of Weyauwega,” added Alice Voss. “I hope this makes it in the record books.”
“This is pretty cool,” said Pam Baumler, of Waupaca. “I think it’s great that this could happen here, in Wisconsin, in such a small town.”
When all was said and done, Weyauwega Star Dairy unofficially broke its own record with a piece of string cheese that was 3,832 feet long.
“This is great,” said Gerard. “I cannot begin to tell you how much this means to our family, to our community. This is a little piece of history belongs to all of us here today.”
Both Mike and Gerard agreed that eventually there would be another attempt.
“Records are made to be broken,” said Mike. “As long as we are able, we will give it another try.”