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Each week a small segment of Vernon County history is published in the county papers.
For the week of 7/21/2024
by Kristen Parrott, curator
The Vernon County Historical Society’s annual pork chop dinner will be this Saturday, July 27, from 4 to 7PM. It will be a drive-through carry-out event in the parking lot on the west side of the Vernon County Museum and History Center in Viroqua. For $15 each, you will enjoy a pork chop, baked potato, baked beans, coleslaw, applesauce, a roll, and a cookie. Funds raised will help to preserve and promote Vernon County history. Come out and eat for a good cause!
July 27 is also the day of the Sweet Rides and Sweet Pies event in Westby, from 10AM to 3PM, benefiting the Westby Area Historical Society. You could spend part of the day in Westby and part of the day in Viroqua, supporting local history the whole time.
On Thursday, August 8, the monthly genealogy class will meet in the history center’s conference room at 10AM for a special guest lecture by Norwegian genealogist Liv Marit Haakenstad. Liv will speak to the class via Zoom about Norwegian farm names and how to find family farms in Norway on maps.
Farm names are of special importance to Norwegian Americans because their immigrant ancestors sometimes took the name of their home farm as their own surname. One of Liv’s areas of interest is Norwegian emigration to the U.S. She was born in Lillehammer, and grew up in Biri, Norway. She is a professional genealogist and has been doing genealogical research for most of her life.
New students are always welcome to join the class. Vernon County Historical Society members attend for free, and non-members are asked to pay $5 per class.
In the evening of Saturday, August 10, you are invited to a Swift Night Out in the parking lot of the history center. For decades now, chimney swifts have roosted each summer in the building’s large chimney. They also roost in several other large chimneys around Viroqua. At dusk, you can watch hundreds of birds streaming into the museum’s chimney in just a few minutes.
This free public event will begin at 7:30PM with a couple of brief birding talks. Chimney swift expert Dr. Stefan Gleissberg of the Wisconsin Chimney Swift Working Group will present one lecture, and local birder Dave Krier will give the other. Then we’ll watch the swifts roost in the chimney around 8:30PM. Bring your own lawn chair or something else comfortable to sit on while we gaze skywards.
For the week of 7/14/2024
by Kristen Parrott, curator
Are you old enough to remember the U.S. bicentennial in 1976? If so, what do you remember? Maybe colonial costumes, and hometown festivities, and lots of red, white, and blue. Another major milestone is coming up soon – the 250th, or semiquincentennial, in 2026. (A quincentennial is 500 years, and the “semi” just means half of that, or 250.)
July 4, 1776, was the date of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, and is considered the day when the United States was founded. 1976 was the 200th anniversary, the bicentennial, of that event.
A lot has changed in the past 50 years, and I think that this commemoration will be quite different, maybe more thoughtful and introspective. The American Association for State and Local History has suggested several themes for the 250th, including Unfinished Revolutions, Power of Place, We the People, American Experiment, and Doing History.
Although Wisconsin was not one of the original 13 colonies, we can still examine these themes. We can think about what this place was like in 1776, and how the U.S. form of government has worked here over the years, and many other ideas. I am especially interested in looking at how our perceptions about the past contrast with realities, and how anniversary celebrations reveal contemporary ways of thinking.
An event of this scale takes a lot of planning, and that’s why people are talking about the U.S. 250th now, two years early. Soon the Vernon County Museum and History Center will begin work on exhibits for the 250th, and begin brainstorming about programs. If you would like to partner with us on a project relating to the semiquincentennial, contact us at museum@vernoncountyhistory.org.
Remember that the Vernon County Historical Society’s annual pork chop dinner is coming up soon. It will be held on Saturday, July 27, from 4 to 7PM. This will be a drive-through carry-out event in the parking lot of the history center. Each meal costs $15. You will enjoy a pork chop, baked potato, baked beans, coleslaw, applesauce, a roll, and a cookie. All proceeds will help us to continue preserving and promoting Vernon County history.
U.S. bicentennial parade in 1976 down Main Street in Stoddard.
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