"America's Dairyland" is living up to its name in this year's World Championship Cheese Contest.
16 cheese manufacturers from Southeastern Wisconsin are competing for the title of 2026 World Champion in Madison next week.
The contest, hosted by the Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association (WCMA), is the largest technical dairy products evaluation in the world.
The participating companies from the area make up nearly 3,400 entries across 150 classes of dairy products.
Manufacturers include:
· Alpinage Cheese LLC of Oak Creek, Wisconsin
· Blakesville Creamery of Port Washington, Wisconsin
· Cedar Valley Cheese, Inc. of Belgium, Wisconsin
· Cesar’s Cheese of Milwaukee, Wisconsin
· Crave Brothers Farmstead Cheese of Waterloo, Wisconsin
· Deer Creek Cheese of Sheboygan, Wisconsin
· Great Lakes Cheese of Plymouth, Wisconsin
· Hill Valley Dairy of Milwaukee, Wisconsin
· Lifeway Foods of Waukesha, Wisconsin
· Masters Gallery Foods of Oostburg and Plymouth, Wisconsin
· Old World Creamery of Sheboygan, Wisconsin
· Saputo Cheese USA of Franklin and Wauwatosa, Wisconsin
· Sargento Foods of St. Cloud, Wisconsin
· Sartori Company of Plymouth, Wisconsin
· Weyauwega Cheese of Sheboygan, Wisconsin
· Widmer’s Cheese Cellars of Theresa, Wisconsin
Preliminary rounds of judging are open for public observation on Tuesday, March 3 and Wednesday, March 4 from 10:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m, at the Monona Terrace Community & Convention Center.
Attendance is free, and samples will be available.
The 2026 World Champion announcement will be livestreamed on Thursday, March 5 at 2:00 p.m. (CT) at WorldChampionCheese.org and Facebook.com/WorldChampionshipCheeseContest.
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