Spring tour season is one tour day away from being finished, and it's going to wrap up in a big way. All 260 6th grade Delong Middle School students will be here next Tuesday, June 4th. It's been a wonderful season. 

Now it's on to summer.

Who What When Podcast Alert

We’ve got a two-part series on the Omtvedt Flag and Cliff Omtvedt's experiences in the Japanese POW camp coming up in June. 

June 6: During last year's Flag Day program at the museum, Todd Johnson revealed that the flag Cliff Omtvedt helped fly over a liberated Japanese POW camp had disappeared from a museum in Virginia many years ago. Todd has been diligently searching for that flag since.

June 20: Cliff Omtvedt’s daughters will discuss his experiences in WWII.

Cliff Omtvedt (left) and John Hryn holding the Omtvedt Flag, 1951

Listen to newly released episodes on the Eau Claire Hometown Media podcast site at Spotify, iHeartRadio, TuneIn. You can also find past episodes at cvmuseum.com, 

Who What When podcasts run about 30 minutes long and feature guests talking about local history. There have been so many great interviews over the last 9 months. Recent episodes include:

• Life on Lake Hallie with local author Patti See 

• Dear Delia, letters from the Civil War with local author and retired educator Mike Larson (Episode 16)

• The Watson Diamonds scandal and mystery with volunteer researcher Nikki Jackson

• Hmong heritage with Blia Schwahn

• Civil War POW at Andersonville with Dustyn Dubuque

Is there a topic you'd like to learn more about (or discuss), or an interview you'd like to hear? Send Jodi Kiffmeyer a note. 

American Red Cross Blood Drive

Wednesday, June 5th 10am - 4pm

There are still many donation slots open, too many in fact. Give back to the community by giving blood to those in need and spend some quiet time visiting the museum exhibits. Make a donation appointment online by visiting RedCrossBlood.org. Contact Tim Hirsch for scheduling assistance.

The need for blood doesn't take the summer off.

Biking Into History: The Many Faces of Carson Park

Tuesday, June 4, 5:00 - 6:30 pm

Explore park history by bike on a tour led by CVM Archivist Jodi Kiffmeyer. As Jodi says,  “The land we now know as Carson Park has been put to a wide range of uses, from the Pest House built to quarantine smallpox patients in the mid-1800s, the sawmills that lined the lake a few decades later, and the beautiful mid-city oasis it is today.” This tour is made possible with research support from Tim Hirsch and in partnership with Bike Chippewa Valley as part of Wisconsin Bike Week.

Cost: $5, includes a small dish or cone from the museum’s ice cream parlor following the ride. 

This tour is limited to 20 registered participants (no registration required for children younger than 5 yrs).

Start location and other details will be emailed to participants the day before the tour. Register using the button below or contact Angela Allred, 715-834-7871.

1860s Vintage Base Ball

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Saturday, June 8, 11:00-4:00 pm

Gelein Field, Carson Park

Spend an hour, or an afternoon, enjoying 1860s "base ball" hosted by the Chippewa Valley Museums, and Rassbach Museum’s Menomonie Blue Caps.

Dustyn Dubuque will provide a brief overview of the rules, style, and equipment used in 1860s base ball. The program takes place at the Wisconsin Logging Museum.

Suggested donation of 2-bits (.25 cents) for admission.

On the Water

Exhibit Opens June 18

On the Water is a nostalgic look at summer recreation in the 1940s-1970s. The exhibit highlights Presto manufactured George Martin’s outboard motors and the story of that production. The exhibit also delves into the formation of the Ski Sprites, Half Moon Lake beach, resort life, and of course, fishing. 

Members -- watch for an invitation to the June 17 Member and Contributors opening. 

Coming in July

Summer Music on the Lawn

The lineup is set. Bring a chair or blanket to camp out on the museum lawn and listen to music. Music on the Lawn is free and open to all. In the event of rain music will move inside to the auditorium at the CVM main exhibit building. 

Sunday, July 7: 

• 1:00 Klezmazel, a group that “takes their cue from a 500-year-old tradition of ethnic music.”

• 2:00 Maple Ridge Band. Larry Finseth and his group return to the museum’s lawn with a lively mix of bluegrass, Americana, and old-timey tunes. 

Sunday, July 21

• 1:00 Joe Thielen on the guitar. 

• 2:00 Stefan Geisinger Band will bring “Rockin’ Blues” to the museum’s lawn for the first time. 

Enter to win tickets to the US Open Chainsaw Sculpture Championships at these Summer Music on the Lawn events!

Coming in August: Jim Nelson and Irie Sol at the US Open Chainsaw Sculpture Championships on Aug. 2nd. The concert is included with event admission. Get tickets below.

Coming Later this Summer

Downtown Walking Tours

Our favorite museum archivist is back with a new walking tour -- What the River Saw: Disasters and Head-Scratchers on the Chippewa. Watch for registration to open on June 10.

Tickets now on Sale!

US Open Chainsaw Sculpture Championship, Aug. 2-4

Escape Room Fundraiser

Thank you Tactical Escape 101

Tactical Escape 101 has developed, installed, and operated original escape rooms inside museum spaces since 2016 (minus the COVID year). We have raised over $40,000 through this partnership. These funds go right back into programs and operations. Thank you, Tactical Escape 101!

More big plans are in the works for a brand new 2024 Halloween escape room at the Schlegelmilch House. Stay tuned.

I hope your summer gets off to a wonderful start.

Peace,

Carrie Ronnander
Executive Director, Chippewa Valley Museums

P.S.  The nation remembered its fallen soldiers on Monday, May 27th. The first national Memorial Day, originally called "Decoration Day," was held at Arlington National Cemetery on May 30, 1868. It began as a way to remember sacrifices made by Civil War soldiers. (If you want a much more detailed history of Memorial Day, see the U.S. Dept. of Veteran Affairs webpage) 

Arlington Cemetery, 1880s, courtesy Library of Congress

It took some time for Eau Claire to organize a public remembrance event, much to the consternation of the Eau Claire Free Press editor. Beginning in the late 1860s and going through at least 1881 (the point at which I stopped looking for Decoration Day references), the editor called on the city to get something together. He noted other communities had Decoration Day events. In 1881, Chippewa Falls even brought in General Phil Sheridan to help recognize the day. Eau Claire businesses did close on Decoration Day and Eau Claire churches and residents did organize their own remembrances, but the editor wanted more.

I can't tell you when Eau Claire first organized a public Memorial Day program. That's a research project yet to be done.

Can you spot President Lincoln delivering his Gettsyburg Address on November 19, 1863? More details on the photo are below.

President Abraham Lincoln's Gettsyburg Address, while not written for Decoration Day or for the soldiers buried at Arlington Cemetery, is a very fitting Memorial Day address. Below are his closing words, and words I strongly feel we should all heed:

It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

The above photo is from the Library of Congress: "Photo is a reprint of a small detail of a photo showing the crowd gathered for the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Penn., where President Abraham Lincoln gave his now-famous speech, the Gettysburg Address. Lincoln is visible facing the crowd, not wearing a hat, about an inch below the flag. Josephine Cobb first found Lincoln's face while working with a glass plate negative at the National Archives in 1952."

18-year-old Henry Aaron on the Eau Claire Bears field, 1952

And now for something a little more light-hearted. April 8, 2024 marked 50 years since Henry Louis Aaron hit his 715^th historic, record-breaking home run during an Atlanta Braves homegame against the Los Angeles Dodgers. The museum has a recording of radio announcers talking to Hank Aaron just before the start of the that ballgame. We discovered this recording last year in our collection of unprocessed donations. There are so many treasures at the Chippewa Valley Museums. Your membership, your donations, your attendance, and your participation in events helps make sure these treasures are around for generations.