Kentucky State Fair kicks off, Chaney’s Dairy Barn returns for 11th year

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – One of the biggest events in bluegrass is back, and one local business is determined to make it the sweetest year.

The 119th Kentucky State Fair is kicking off, and Gov. Andy Beshear reminds us of what the fair is all about.

“This is such a special tradition, one that has given generations of Kentuckians the chance to celebrate what makes our state so special, our values, our couture, time with our loved ones and important folks, like farmers and our agricultural industry, who are absolutely essential to Kentucky,” Beshear says.

And essential they are – one local dairy farm is making its 11th trip to the state fair, taking ice cream and serving thousands of people across the state.

“It seems like every year at the farm, we’ll have people that will come in, and we will ask them, we’ll say, ‘how’d you find out about us?’ and they’ll say, ‘well, we had your ice cream at the Kentucky State Fair and just thought this would be something fun to do on a day off.’ So it’s really expanded our brand, so we’re now throughout the state. I think people really have a good idea of who Chaney’s is,” Carl Chaney, co-owner of Chaney’s Dairy Barn, says.

In 2022, Chaney’s sold 500 tubs of ice cream at the state fair. That’s almost 1,500 gallons in the span of 11 days.

With well over 400,000 people expected to attend the fair, Chaney’s has been working for over a month to prepare 12 of their most popular flavors, offering fair-goers a taste of south central Kentucky.

“It’s really cool, because our ice cream comes from the milk of our cows. There’s not anybody else hardly in the state of Kentucky that can do that, so not only is it a great achievement, but a huge responsibility, to make sure we get it right,” Chaney says.

So where can you find Chaney’s at the fair this year? Look up and out for a dairy cow to locate the ice cream that serves Kentucky so well.

“My wife came up with the idea, ‘why don’t we put it on top of the trailer?'” Chaney said. “So we did. So now people far and wide, when they see the cow, they know where we are.”