It's been a long winter. And even spring hasn't been all that nice, until lately, that is, with warm temperatures and everything nice and green. With long hours of daylight and warm weather, June has always been my favorite month. Good-by darkness.
There is a lot going on around here during summer, and especially in June. I don't have much sympathy with the refrain that "there is nothing to do in these small towns." It can be overwhelming.
I was at our National Historic Cheesemaking Center (NHCC) the other day visiting with director Donna Douglas. We bill ourselves as "Cheese Capital" of the Cheese State. On the second weekend of June we have the opportunity to see how cheese was made a century ago.
The century-old wooden Imobersteg farmstead cheese factory sat dormant, undiscovered for 100 years. It was moved to the NHCC in 2010 and refurbished to its original form. On June 14, some of our local Wisconsin Master Cheesemakers and retired cheesemakers will bring the historic factory to life and make a 90-pound wheel of Swiss.
The public is invited - free admission. After the fashion of Tom Sawyer offering his pals the opportunity to paint his fence, visitors will be offered the opportunity to take a turn at stirring the cultured milk in the copper kettle. Where else could this possibly happen?
Speaking of the NHCC, the history of our local cheese culture has been compiled by a group of volunteers. Headed by retired cheesemaker, Fritz Kopp, a committee consisting of Donna, Jo Ann Schwitz, Karen Hagan, Helen Hafen, Helen Locher, and Millie Stauffer put together a colorful and informative book, "Cheese Country: A History of the Dairy and Cheese Industry of Green County Wisconsin."
This well-written book with its dozens of pictures of old neighborhood factories is a "must-see" for anyone interested in our local history. It also features local institutions such as Turner Hall and nationally known Baumgartner's Tavern with its legendary Limburger cheese "mitt onion" sandwich, and the origin of Swiss Colony stores.
Naturally, the book reviews the origin and history of our biennial Green County Cheese Days celebration.
Later that day, I was visiting with the energetic Green County Tourism Director Noreen Rueckert in her office. The Cheese Days celebration is still over two months away but Noreen and a whole bunch of people have long been hard at work on it. Readers know of the effort, in keeping with the 100th anniversary of Cheese Days, to recruit 100 accordion players to render the official Cheese Days song on noon that Saturday of the event.
We frequently get questions on how we are going to find 100 accordion players. Oh, ye of little faith - Noreen already has 85 eager participants. In fact, I have a couple of students to whom I am giving a brief "refresher course." You'd be surprised - or maybe not - at the number of locals who have an old accordion in the attic, left untouched for decades. As my past teaching experience has been limited to economics, I never fancied myself as a music teacher. But I can handle basics on the accordion.
Many of these accordionists were introduced to the art of the accordion by the late local iconic figure, Swiss Immigrant Rudy Burkhalter, who came to Wisconsin in 1939. Rudy took an old Swiss song and put new words to it to come up with the official Cheesedays anthem. Among his many accomplishments, Rudy wrote music for Disney Studios when they brought Annette Funicello and the Mousketeers to Wisconsin for a series on "Dairy Farming in Wisconsin." The lively "Teach Me How to Yodel" is a standard familiar number performed around here at our many festivals.
Who knows how the 100 accordions will sound playing the Cheese Days Song? But the idea has already been doing its job, generating publicity throughout the state, and beyond.
Noreen has planned a media day on June 17 to generate further publicity. The event will culminate with monthly "Squeezebox Night" at Turner Hall.
Speaking of dairy, the Monroe Art Center (MAC) now has on display paintings by Swiss artist Walter Lehman. His subjects are exclusively cows found in the pastures of Switzerland. His display is entitled, "Whimsical Cows," a title that those of us on that tour to Switzerland last September will find perfectly appropriate, as those cows seemed to be posing especially for the benefit of admiring tourists.
The same weekend of the Cheesemaking demonstration at NHCC, Monroe is hosting the Blues and Balloon Festival, and New Glarus is hosting the annual Roger Bright Memorial Polkafest. A couple of weeks later, New Glarus hosts the 50th Anniversary Heidi Festival.
While in Noreen's office, Bruce Meier was in talking about the "Ag-Tiques" show coming up in early July. Between Monroe and Freeport will be an 8-mile stretch displaying classic tractors that were the "work horses" of agriculture during much of the 20th century. Admission is free, and visits to sites concentrating on International Harvester, Oliver, John Deere, Allis Chalmers, Ford, Minneapolis Moline, Massey Harris, and lawn and garden machinery will certainly awaken the nostalgia in us. I have special affection for the Farmall H.
Add all this to summer programs such as our City Band concerts under the tutelage of the able and popular Randy Schneeberger, performances at MAC, and the Monroe Theatre Guild, and we have a full slate. Just tap into greencounty.org for more details on these and other events too numerous to mention.
Cheese, beer, performances of all kinds - it's clear that Green County's new tagline, "There's An Art To It," is very appropriate for this rural small town area. Around here, there is indeed "an art to it," especially in June.
- John Waelti's column appears in the Times every Friday. He can be reached at jjwaelti1@tds.net.
There is a lot going on around here during summer, and especially in June. I don't have much sympathy with the refrain that "there is nothing to do in these small towns." It can be overwhelming.
I was at our National Historic Cheesemaking Center (NHCC) the other day visiting with director Donna Douglas. We bill ourselves as "Cheese Capital" of the Cheese State. On the second weekend of June we have the opportunity to see how cheese was made a century ago.
The century-old wooden Imobersteg farmstead cheese factory sat dormant, undiscovered for 100 years. It was moved to the NHCC in 2010 and refurbished to its original form. On June 14, some of our local Wisconsin Master Cheesemakers and retired cheesemakers will bring the historic factory to life and make a 90-pound wheel of Swiss.
The public is invited - free admission. After the fashion of Tom Sawyer offering his pals the opportunity to paint his fence, visitors will be offered the opportunity to take a turn at stirring the cultured milk in the copper kettle. Where else could this possibly happen?
Speaking of the NHCC, the history of our local cheese culture has been compiled by a group of volunteers. Headed by retired cheesemaker, Fritz Kopp, a committee consisting of Donna, Jo Ann Schwitz, Karen Hagan, Helen Hafen, Helen Locher, and Millie Stauffer put together a colorful and informative book, "Cheese Country: A History of the Dairy and Cheese Industry of Green County Wisconsin."
This well-written book with its dozens of pictures of old neighborhood factories is a "must-see" for anyone interested in our local history. It also features local institutions such as Turner Hall and nationally known Baumgartner's Tavern with its legendary Limburger cheese "mitt onion" sandwich, and the origin of Swiss Colony stores.
Naturally, the book reviews the origin and history of our biennial Green County Cheese Days celebration.
Later that day, I was visiting with the energetic Green County Tourism Director Noreen Rueckert in her office. The Cheese Days celebration is still over two months away but Noreen and a whole bunch of people have long been hard at work on it. Readers know of the effort, in keeping with the 100th anniversary of Cheese Days, to recruit 100 accordion players to render the official Cheese Days song on noon that Saturday of the event.
We frequently get questions on how we are going to find 100 accordion players. Oh, ye of little faith - Noreen already has 85 eager participants. In fact, I have a couple of students to whom I am giving a brief "refresher course." You'd be surprised - or maybe not - at the number of locals who have an old accordion in the attic, left untouched for decades. As my past teaching experience has been limited to economics, I never fancied myself as a music teacher. But I can handle basics on the accordion.
Many of these accordionists were introduced to the art of the accordion by the late local iconic figure, Swiss Immigrant Rudy Burkhalter, who came to Wisconsin in 1939. Rudy took an old Swiss song and put new words to it to come up with the official Cheesedays anthem. Among his many accomplishments, Rudy wrote music for Disney Studios when they brought Annette Funicello and the Mousketeers to Wisconsin for a series on "Dairy Farming in Wisconsin." The lively "Teach Me How to Yodel" is a standard familiar number performed around here at our many festivals.
Who knows how the 100 accordions will sound playing the Cheese Days Song? But the idea has already been doing its job, generating publicity throughout the state, and beyond.
Noreen has planned a media day on June 17 to generate further publicity. The event will culminate with monthly "Squeezebox Night" at Turner Hall.
Speaking of dairy, the Monroe Art Center (MAC) now has on display paintings by Swiss artist Walter Lehman. His subjects are exclusively cows found in the pastures of Switzerland. His display is entitled, "Whimsical Cows," a title that those of us on that tour to Switzerland last September will find perfectly appropriate, as those cows seemed to be posing especially for the benefit of admiring tourists.
The same weekend of the Cheesemaking demonstration at NHCC, Monroe is hosting the Blues and Balloon Festival, and New Glarus is hosting the annual Roger Bright Memorial Polkafest. A couple of weeks later, New Glarus hosts the 50th Anniversary Heidi Festival.
While in Noreen's office, Bruce Meier was in talking about the "Ag-Tiques" show coming up in early July. Between Monroe and Freeport will be an 8-mile stretch displaying classic tractors that were the "work horses" of agriculture during much of the 20th century. Admission is free, and visits to sites concentrating on International Harvester, Oliver, John Deere, Allis Chalmers, Ford, Minneapolis Moline, Massey Harris, and lawn and garden machinery will certainly awaken the nostalgia in us. I have special affection for the Farmall H.
Add all this to summer programs such as our City Band concerts under the tutelage of the able and popular Randy Schneeberger, performances at MAC, and the Monroe Theatre Guild, and we have a full slate. Just tap into greencounty.org for more details on these and other events too numerous to mention.
Cheese, beer, performances of all kinds - it's clear that Green County's new tagline, "There's An Art To It," is very appropriate for this rural small town area. Around here, there is indeed "an art to it," especially in June.
- John Waelti's column appears in the Times every Friday. He can be reached at jjwaelti1@tds.net.
