Weekly Column

Each week a small segment of Vernon County history is published in the county papers.

For the week of 4/13/2025
by Kristen Parrott, curator

The Vernon County Museum and History Center is now on its springtime hours. Stop by anytime Monday through Friday between 11AM and 4PM, or by appointment.

The third annual Ridges and Rivers Book Festival is coming up soon, and we are honored to again be a part of it. On Saturday, April 26, book festival events will be held around Viroqua, including at the History Center. Three authors will speak in our conference room that day. Marcy West, the former executive director of the Kickapoo Valley Reserve, will read from her new book, Protecting Paradise in the Driftless: How the Kickapoo Valley Reserve Came to Be, at 9:30AM.

Then at 11AM, Tamara Dean will present her program, “What the Light Is Hiding.” Using the essay “Night Vision” from her book, Shelter and Storm: At Home in the Driftless, Tamara will talk about the history of electrification in Vernon County. Long before modern Dark Sky initiatives, some Driftless area residents resisted the electric lights that would ruin their nighttime freedom and ease among shadows. Tamara will explore rural electrification and night vision technology through the stories of nonconformists who over the past century have either embraced or sought to conquer the darkness.

Dean Robbins will be the final speaker at our venue. At 1:30PM, he will talk about his book, Wisconsin Idols: 100 Heroes Who Changed the State, the World, and Me. All book festival events are free. Learn about other book festival events from the festival website, ridgesandriversbookfestival.org.

Note that this year’s Ridges & Rivers Book Festival was expected to be funded in part by a grant from Wisconsin Humanities. Because funding for the National Endowment for the Humanities has been eliminated, Wisconsin Humanities will not receive any more NEH financial support, and in turn will probably not be able to fulfill its grants to Wisconsinites, which puts many arts and cultural programs in the state in jeopardy.

You are invited to an open house at the Vernon County Museum and History Center on Sunday, April 27, from 12:30 to 2:30 to learn more about the Vernon County Historical Society's upcoming project to install heat and air-conditioning on the upper floors of the building. Project partners Ethos Green Power, Ultimate Insulation, and Vernon County Energy District will all be making brief presentations. The exhibit halls upstairs will be open, so you can explore the spaces where the HVAC will make a big improvement. Exhibits include a tobacco room, a Norwegian woodcarving exhibit, an American Indian room, and a “women in the military” exhibit.

One of the exhibits in the agriculture room on second floor is a display of veterinarian tools. I recently learned about a resource for anyone interested in veterinary history, and that is the American Veterinary Medical History Society. Their website is www.avmhs.org, where you can read articles, watch interviews, and play “Name that veterinary instrument”!

Why are there two small lights shining in one of the History Center’s windows at night? Two Lights for Tomorrow is a nationwide initiative to begin the commemoration of the United States’ 250th birthday. The famous ride of Paul Revere occurred overnight on April 18 – 19, 1775. Two Lights for Tomorrow uses the imagery of that shining light 250 years ago as a uniting call to action today for our fellow citizens to remind ourselves that our history is about working together for a better tomorrow. Everyone can participate! All you have to do is display two lights in your buildings in April 2025.

For the week of 4/6/2025
by Kristen Parrott, curator

An outdoor travelling exhibit about sports history was set up last week on the south lawn of the historic Sherry-Butt House museum, and will stay up through the end of May. The Wisconsin Historical Society produced this exhibit, called “We Take Our Sports Seriously,” as part of its History Makers Tour. This tour is taking objects and photos from the state’s collection in Madison to all the far-flung corners of the state.

The outdoor display features enlarged photos of Wisconsinites playing sports, including baseball players Hank Aaron of the Milwaukee Braves, and Sophie Kurys of the Racine Belles. There’s also a photo of the Famous Racing Sausages at a Brewers game! Many other sports are featured, such as football, bowling, and curling, and many other athletes, including Giannis Antetokounmpo.

You may tour this free exhibit anytime. The Sherry-Butt House is located at 795 N. Main St. in Viroqua, at the corner of N. Main St. and Fairview Dr. The History Makers Tour is presented by Culver’s, and is made possible in part by a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS).

The third annual Ridges and Rivers Book Festival will be held on Saturday, April 26, all around Viroqua, including at our own Vernon County Museum and History Center. Start your day off with authentic Norwegian waffles from Kristina Reser-Jaynes’ waffle wagon, which will be set up in our parking lot at the corner of S. Main St. and E. South St. from 8:30AM to 1PM. A variety of toppings are available for the waffles, and a portion of the proceeds will benefit both the book festival and the Vernon County Historical Society.

Marcy West, the former executive director of the Kickapoo Valley Reserve, will read from her new book, Protecting Paradise in the Driftless: How the Kickapoo Valley Reserve Came to Be, in our conference room at 9:30AM. The book provides a fascinating overview of how this amazing property is permanently protected through a unique agreement with the Ho-Chunk Nation and the State of Wisconsin. West served as the executive director for the Kickapoo Reserve Management Board in the formative years of 1996–2021. In Protecting Paradise in the Driftless, she takes readers on a tour of the 8,600 acres she came to know and love as the KVR evolved from a proposed dam and lake into a unique local natural resource.

At 11AM, Tamara Dean will present her program, “What the Light Is Hiding,” using the essay “Night Vision” from her book, Shelter and Storm: At Home in the Driftless. And at 1:30PM, Dean Robbins will speak about his book, Wisconsin Idols: 100 Heroes Who Changed the State, the World, and Me. All book festival events are free. These three talks will be held in the conference room at the History Center. Learn about other book festival events from the festival website, ridgesandriversbookfestival.org The festival is supported in part by a grant from Wisconsin Humanities, which in turn receives funds from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

An open house will be held at the History Center on Sunday, April 27, from 12:30 to 2:30 to introduce the general public to our upcoming heating and air-conditioning project for the upper floors of the building. More details to come.

This outdoor installation about Wisconsin sports can be viewed until
the end of May at the Sherry-Butt House, 795 N. Main St., Viroqua.

The previous two articles:

March 30, 2025

March 23, 2025