Saying thank you

WESTFIELD, Wis. — Every summer for the past 24 years, the Slowey family has welcomed the neighborhood to their farm to enjoy food, beverages and conversation. The party is held to say, “Thank you,” and to foster connections with the neighbors surrounding the Slowey farm and the fields the family works.

“Pretty much everybody in our area gets invited,” Alby Slowey said. “There are a lot of repeat people as well as people who just moved into the neighborhood. Our land is spread out 15-18 miles. We don’t get everyone in between, but if there are spots where we’re spreading manure, we try to hit up the neighbors surrounding those fields.”

The Slowey family milks 1,850 cows and farms 3,500 acres near Westfield on their farm that was established in 1912. Alby and his wife, Dawn, farm with their son, Alex, and his wife, Mattie, as well as their granddaughters, Ruth and Lucy. Alby’s parents, Tim and Sue, are retired but still involved in a portion of decision-making.

Normally invitations for the “Neighborhood Party at Slowey Farms Inc.” are hand delivered. This year the Sloweys hosted nearly 400 people for the annual event June 20. Dawn said this is the first year they mailed the invites due to a busier schedule than normal, with hosting Breakfast on the Farm June 8.

The party began at 5:30 p.m. and went well into the night. Food trucks serving hamburgers, hot dogs, cheese curds, onion straws, French fries and ice cream were parked on the farm from 5-8 p.m. The burgers were made with beef from one of the Sloweys’ beef cows. Always held on the third Friday in June, the party is invite-only and an RSVP is required.

“Our neighbors like it, and everybody gets to see each other,” Alby said. “Everyone talks to each other, and we talk to a lot of our neighbors who we don’t usually get to speak with. And if we don’t have any complaints throughout the year, it’s even better.”

Farm tours are also part of the evening. Wagons continually take people up to the barns for a firsthand look at the animals.

“They get to check out things around the farm, and there is a lot to see with our new project being built,” Alby said.

The Sloweys are in the process of putting in a rotary milking parlor that will include a new employee area, holding area, sort gate system, office and retail store.

“We’re hoping that about a year from now, it will all be up and running,” Alby said. “We showed a picture of what the outside is going to look like and got a lot of questions about what we’re doing and how we’re doing it.”

Kicking off in 2001, the neighborhood party was Tim’s idea. When the family did their first expansion in 2001, Alby said his dad wanted to try to involve the neighborhood.

“There were big farms moving in, but we had been in the area,” Alby said. “We were expanding and wanted to make everyone aware of what we were doing and how we were doing it.”

Seventy-five people came that first year. As the farm has grown bigger over the years, so has the party. In addition to neighbors, the guest list includes family members, employees and their family members, as well as vendors the Sloweys work with and some of the Sloweys’ friends.

Sharing their farm with the neighborhood has helped the Sloweys create open and honest relationships with their neighbors.

“The party opens the line of communication, so our neighbors know who we are and know that we’re not just a bunch of whatevers who won’t listen to them if they have concerns about the manure,” Dawn said. “We’ve had at least two phone calls since we’ve been doing this where people say, ‘Hey, we’re having a party on this day, can you not spread here?’”

Alby tells those gathered at the party that if there is a certain weekend they do not want the farm to spread around their house to give him a call.

The Slowey party also enables people to connect with others who they often only see once a year.

“We’ve done this party for so long that people actually look forward to it to see all the other neighbors,” Alby said. “They appreciate us doing it. One guy told me a story about how he didn’t know who his neighbor was, and now, because of our party, they’ve known each other for a while and look forward to seeing each other every year.”

Dawn said prep work for the event is minimal. They set up tables in both of their shops where people can eat and converse. The local high school cross country team operates the check-in table and hands out tickets for the food trucks. They also clean tables and take the garbage. As a reward for their time, the Sloweys give the team a donation.

The Sloweys used to cook all the food, but Dawn said it was a lot of work and prevented them from talking to people. Therefore, they switched to food trucks four years ago.

Bringing the community together has gained neighborhood support for the Sloweys. Dawn said the event has improved relationships with neighbors, helping to foster understanding for the things the Sloweys have to do on a regular basis to keep the farm running.

“There are always rumors that float around, especially in a small community,” she said. “This gives them a chance to say, ‘That rumor is not quite true.’ This party clears up some of the gossip around town.”

The family said throwing a party has been a fun way to reach out to those who live around the property they own and rent.

“We tell people to enjoy talking with their neighbors because not everybody does that anymore,” Alby said. “That is a big draw, and everybody is always happy and thanks us for doing this.”