Michelangelo is coming to town for Labor Day weekend and, as has become our tradition, we plan to attend the Wisconsin State Cow Chip Throw and Hoopla in Prairie du Sac on Saturday.

(Please click here to visit their website and learn more about this important cultural event.)

They claim that some 40,000 people attend this each year. The current Wisconsin Cow Chip Throw state record is 248 feet, which is quite respectable. The winner goes on to the nationals (and even a world competition) in Beaver, Oklahoma. Apparently they do not all follow the same guidelines and so on, so I could not find an authoritative and universally recognized World Record. There is an unofficial men's record of over 266 feet, but the officially recognized record is only a bit over 182 feet. So I don't know what to make of that. There is also a ladies' division. I also don't know what to make of that, but no one is asking me, so I guess it doesn't matter.

The weather will be a bit cool -- a high of 66, but sunny. Should be a great day for a parade, an arts and craft show, food-on-a-stick (the pork-chops-on-a-stick being a Cow Chip Festival highlight) and, of course, the cow chip throw itself. A few years back, Tom and Michelangelo went out onto the field after the event and carried away the winning chip. Michelangelo took it back to Chicago, framed it and hung it on the wall of his classroom at the Catholic boys high school where he taught Latin and theology. It caused some ... comments, shall we say?