Cow chips and COVID-19 vaccines: Wisconsin festival partners with vaccine clinic – WKOW

PRAIRIE DU SAC (WKOW) -- The Wisconsin State Cow Chip Throw has been a Prairie du Sac staple since 1975. This year, there was a new addition to the festival: coronavirus vaccines.

Sauk Prairie Healthcare teamed up with the festival to offer free COVID-19 shots to people at the event.

"Sauk Prairie Healthcare is interested in getting as many vaccines into people's arms as we can," Ken Carlson said. "We don't want to miss any opportunity to do that, and where people are maybe on the fence, we also want to be available to provide information as much as possible about COVID-19 vaccines."

Those who got their first shot are eligible for Wisconsin's $100 vaccine incentive.

However, Carlson said he wasn't expecting a lot of people to get the shot, even with the incentive.

"Our expectations for the number of people that come in and get vaccinated isn't through the roof because we know it's just one at a time," he said. "We've been pleased that in the first two couple of hours of operation we've gotten about five or six that have come through."

The main draw of the festival is the cow chip throwing contest, where participants try to toss their dried cow manure the furthest.

The throw didn't happen in 2020 because of the pandemic, and organizer Eddie Egan said that made this year's event even more special.

'It's nice to be back again," he said. "We hated to lose last year, but it's really fun to be out with the community again for this year."

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Cow chips and COVID-19 vaccines: Wisconsin festival partners with vaccine clinic - WKOW