Their stoic faces and austere surroundings brought to mind the rugged character of frontier life. It’s not unlike the image brought to life at Skumsrud Heritage Farm in Coon Valley, the site of the Ice Cream Social & Chicken Q on Sunday, August 8 from 11 am to 5 pm.
The social takes place on the grounds of the Farm, a collection of a dozen buildings dating back to before the turn of the 20th century, including the oldest log building in Vernon County and the area’s first school house. My wife and I toured the buildings during an art fair on July 3 and it felt like walking into the backdrop of my grandparent’s 1910 photo.
The social will bring back the simple pleasures of summer afternoons when families gathered for ice cream and games. In addition to frozen custard treats (make your own cones, sundaes, and floats) children can find fun in yard games, checkers, and face painting. But before dessert comes the main course; a Chicken Q beginning at 11 am.
Viroqua will celebrate a frontier heritage of a different sort on August 20 – 22. Wild West Days will commence on Friday evening with a Horse Parade through downtown, featuring over 50 entries in the largest horse parade in Wisconsin. The parade includes Cody II the buffalo, who might suffer from an identity crisis in this “all-horse” parade.
Spend the weekend strolling an 1880’s Wild West Boomtown, including a hotel, saloon, general store, marshal’s office, bank, livery store, and other frontier vendors. You might want to take cover during the gun fight staged on Main Street. And you’ll find plenty to see and do in a Civil War encampment, Fur Trade Rendezvous, stage coach rides, and a ranch rodeo.
In conjunction with Wild West Days, the Temple Theater in Viroqua will present a concert by the “High Riders,” a band anchored by Roy (Dusty) Rogers Jr. and named by his mother, Dale Evans. Shows are at 7:30 pm on Thursday and Friday. “Wild West Days is a great event,” says Emily Joy Rozeske, Executive Director of the Viroqua Chamber Main Street. “It’s a full weekend of thrills from the 1800’s and today.”
Any August day in Driftless Wisconsin offers a glimpse of life’s simpler pleasures: a walk along the river or hike through the hills. But this August offers something more; a chance to experience the frontier that comes to life from hundred-year-old photographs.
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