Divine Bovine is returning to the Littleton Museum on June 6.
While the Littleton Museum’s bovine residents are an adorable sight during Littletonians’ visits, the animals serve more of a purpose than simply looking cute. The museum’s upcoming Divine Bovine event will highlight what the animals provide — and have provided throughout the city’s history — milk, meat and muscle.
Diving Bovine will take place June 6 at the museum, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., giving visitors insight into the role working cattle have played in supporting Littleton throughout history. The day’s free festivities will include hands-on activities and demonstrations, as well as some insight into Littleton’s bovine-filled past.
For Littleton Museum Curator of Education and Interpretation Ryan Badger, the day is a way to highlight the impact of bovines in Littleton’s history — from the cows that supported the town’s dairy industry, to the oxen that pulled wagons on the Santa Fe Trail, to the bison that were hunted by indigenous people and early pioneers.
Divine Bovine evolved out of the museum’s previous Dairy Day event, where people could come sample various items and recipes with dairy, but the museum wanted to expand the event to show what else bovines were capable of.
“It gives us the opportunity to kind of flex our muscles in some other areas, and do more educational programming as well, but still have some of the dairy recipes and processes that people have come to appreciate,” Badger said.
The day will highlight the museum’s oxen with demonstrations of how they work, as well as a chance for visitors to step into oxen’s shoes — or hooves — with a stone sled that visitors can try to pull, simulating the work oxen do daily.
They’ll also highlight the role of cows, with butter churning and milk painting activities. The farm’s dairy cow will spend the day outside the Beers Sisters Ice House — the largest surviving structure from the Beers Sisters Dairy, a family dairy that was run in Littleton by five sisters until the 1940’s.
Other important pieces of bovine history will be highlighted, such as the Bemis family’s dairy farm, which brought the first herd of Jersey cows to Littleton. The dairy was run by the parents of Edwin Bemis, for whom the Bemis Public Library is named. Badger wants to highlight Littleton’s history, as well as the state history, with bovines more widely.
“People will learn about some really incredible local ranchers,” Badger said. “Learn some wonderful local history, and kind of gain an appreciation for the impact that these big animals have made on our history, and continue to make day to day.”
Badger said his favorite part of the event is “a great opportunity to come out and to learn a lot more, because everyone is always so fascinated with our cattle.”
“It’s fun to see people kind of light up learning about it,” Badger said. “We just have lots of great staff who’ve worked here for years and are just a wealth of knowledge for people.”
