The Great New York State Fair is bringing back strawberry milk to its popular Milk Bar.
NYS Fair officials announced the new flavor will be offered for a limited time over the Fair’s second and third weekends. Strawberry and chocolate milk will be available in the Dairy Building on Friday, Aug. 27 through Sunday, Aug. 29, while strawberry and white milk will be available Friday, Sept. 3 through Monday, Sept. 6.
Only two flavors can be sold each day because the refrigerated holding tanks have just two pipelines to the milk dispensers. White and chocolate milk will both continue to be available Aug. 25-26 and Aug. 30-Sept. 2; all milk cups are 25 cents each.
“Nothing beats a cold cup of milk when the Fair heats up. A family of four can hand over just $1 and walk away with four delicious drinks,” said Fair Director Troy Waffner. “Fairgoers line up year after year, so we’re very excited to see how they’ll react when strawberry milk becomes an option again.”
Strawberry milk was previously available at the Fair years ago, but Milk Bar operator Wahid Akl said they decided to bring it back because of the overwhelming popularity of chocolate milk. According to a press release, the Milk Bar will sell 120 gallons per hour of chocolate milk on a normal busy day.
“This is a big change and we’re ready for it. On one hand, this will remind some visitors of their childhoods and the past, but this could also be a defining moment for the future,” Akl said. “If a different flavor does well, I may look into offering more options. We could try mocha, mint, and maybe cookies-n-cream milk. First, we need to find out if strawberry is popular.”
The Milk Bar was previously known as the Rainbow Milk Bar when it sold a wider variety of flavors, including mint and strawberry milk. According to The Post-Standard archives, strawberry milk hasn’t been an option since the 1980s.
The milk at the Milk Bar is being provided by Upstate Niagara Cooperative through a partnership with the NYS Department of Agriculture and Markets to promote the state’s dairy industry. More than 30,000 cups are sold at the Milk Bar daily, on average.
Customers can buy milk through token machines set up around the Dairy Products Building. Each token costs $0.25 and will buy one cup of milk.
Patrons line up to buy tokens for the milk bar in the Dairy Products Building at the New York State Fair on Opening Day, Aug. 20, 2021. (Marie Morelli | mmorelli@syracuse.com)Marie Morelli | mmorelli@syracuse.com
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