by Elizabeth A. Tomlin
Montgomery County Dairy Princess Ashley Oeser and Montgomery County Maple Princess Jillian Palmer, of Fort Plain, NY, were on hand to advocate healthy living and healthy choices at a community health fair in Montgomery County on April 20.
“I am so glad that I can reach out to people to teach them more about the dairy industry,” said Oeser. “I especially want to teach them the importance of having 3 servings of dairy products every day!”
Oeser, a senior at Canajoharie Central School in Montgomery County, has been traveling to events throughout NYS educating the public not only about the nutrients in dairy products, but also about the safe and humane practices dairy farmers use on a day to day basis.
“Meeting with people at the Community Health and Wellness Fair at the Canajoharie School was a great way to do that!” Oeser stated.
Oeser plans to attend Russell Sage College after graduation, with a focus on a career in nursing.
Palmer not only attended a recent community health event in Montgomery County to speak to attendees about their choices, but also helped plan the event as one of the planning committee members.
“I went to the Health and Wellness Fair because of the need to make the community members more aware of their decisions to live a healthy lifestyle,” said Palmer. “The health benefits of maple syrup need to be shown to everybody out there, and the maple producers put in the hard work so people can consume this wonderful treat.”
Palmer said the planning committee consisted of many different people, including the area school superintendents, board of education members, PTA members and the food service administrator. “We tried to plan out the best health fair possible.”
As a former 1st alternate NYS Maple Princess, Palmer said that she was also there to promote NYS Maple Producers, which she said “is the goal for all the princesses.”
She displayed a poster with the names of several local, Montgomery County maple producers at her booth.
Although she travels to many maple producers in her county she said she most frequently works with a producer in neighboring Herkimer County, Paradise Maple, owned by Jim Spatto, who is a family friend.
Jillian is in 11th grade at Fort Plain Central School.