It's just two weeks until the annual Folk Arts Festival! This signature event is one of the highlights of winter around here. Keep reading for details, but first, some thank yous.

Chippewa Valley Museums Voted the Best

For the 6th year in a row, Chippewa Valley voters have named Chippewa Valley Museums the Best Museum/Historic Site in Volume One's reader's poll. Last year's Dimensions & Discovery winter art exhibit ranked #2 in the Best Art Exhibit category. What a victory!

Thank you. Thank you for visiting, donating, and sharing your love of history, art, and culture with your friends and family. You are helping us be the best museums we can be.

Old Nort Will Retire Spring 2024

It's been a tough few months for Old Nort and Frank. Old Nort is the museum's tempermental humidifier. Frank is the staff member who has to supervise Old Nort and deal with Nort's chronic absenteeism. This week I gave both of them the news they've long been waiting to hear -- Chippewa Valley Museums has raised the money to replace Old Nort. There was much rejoicing, at least by Frank. Stoic Old Nort was rather silent on the matter. 

Thank you to all who gave to Old Nort's retirement fund. You were very generous and we exceeded our goal by $15,000. The additional funds will go towards other long-standing facilities needs, like automatic door openers. 

Experience Art with Don Gaber

Saturday, February 17, 1-2:30pm

Just two seats remain! Enjoy a presentation and gallery walk with Empty Walls Art Collective member artist Don Gaber. Join Don for an exciting experiment in using reclaimed materials as he works with you to create your own 3D piece.

Open to kids as young as 10 with accompanying registered adult. 

Cost: $17/adult, $15 senior, $10 student. $5 discount for museum members.

Experience Art with Barbara Koppang

Tuesday, February 27, 6-7:30pm

Artist Barbara Koppang from Oddest Goddess Art is a sculptor who creates mixed media pieces using clay, natural elements, oil paint and encaustic wax. Hear how she incorporates myths into her art to create pieces that have the feel of an ancient talisman. Don't miss the opportunity to join her in personalizing a 3D sculpted figure using provided materials.

Advance registration is strongly encouraged to guarantee a spot in this program. Recommended for ages 18+

Cost: $17/adult, $15 senior, $10 student. $5 discount for museum members.

Folk Arts Festival

Saturday, February 24, 12-5pm

Drew Kaiser from Kaiserson Bee Company, above, will discuss bee keeping at 3:45 pm during the Folk Arts Festival.

Join local folk artists and vendors for a day of family-friendly demonstrations and activities. Below is a peek at what to expect: 

• Folk Harps and Ukeleles

• Presentations on Bee Keeping, Pyrography (art of decorating wood with burn marks), Building a Nykleharpa. 

• Live Blacksmith demonstrations outside (weather permitting)

• Embroidery and Clothing Repair - demo and project

• Wood Turning and Wood Carving

• Model Railroading

• Puppetry

• Fiber and Textile Art

• Tobaggan Making

• Antique Hand Tools and Ax Hanging demo

• Kids Zone: fleece-tied blankets and bean bags with the Eau Claire K-Kids

• Hot Sandwiches for purchase from Jay Ray's

Watch social media and the museum's website cvmuseum.com for more details.

COST: $12.00 per Adult/ $10.00 per Senior (62+)/ $5.00 per Student/
$5.00 per Youth (5-17)/ Museum Members -- Free with your membership

Purchase advance tickets using the button below.

Major support for the Folk Arts Festival comes from Visit Eau Claire and Volume One.

Associated Organization Spotlight:

Genealogical Research Society of Eau Claire (GRSEC)

Chippewa Valley Museums proudly serves as a gathering place for the Genealogical Research Society of Eau Claire (GRSEC). On 2^nd Saturdays September - May, Chippewa Valley Museums members and the general public are welcome to join the 12pm research hour hosted by GRSEC in CVM’s library space. Members and the public are also invited to join the 1:00pm GRSEC membership meeting followed by a guest presentation.

Interested in joining the genealogy activities happening at CVM this Saturday, February 10? Check in at the museum’s desk stating you are in the building for genealogy (exhibit access requires paid admission or CVM membership).

Scheduled GRSEC presentations at CVM through May 2024:
February 10: “A Visit to Swede Hollow" by Bill Convery.

March 9: “A Study of Railroads in Rural Communities in West Central Wisconsin," by Arlyn Colby.

April 13, 2024. “Kongsburg, a Forgotten Cemetery,”  by Keith Edison.

May 11, 2024. “Agent of Mercy: The Untold Story of Dr. Archibald S. Maxwell Civil War Surgeon & Iowa State Sanitary Agent," by George C. Maxwell.

More information about the Genealogical Society of Eau Claire can be found on their website.

In Memory of Christy Ann Skuban

10-16-1950 to 2-5-2024

Thank you to all who have supported the museum's winter art exhibits. Christy Ann Skuban curated the last four exhibits, including Dimensions & Discovery, which just won #2 Best Art Exhibit, and the current Ventures & Voice exhibit.. As curator she recruited and communicated with all of the artists, organized the art drop-offs and pick-ups, designed and led the installation of the exhibit, worked with museum staff to offer an artists reception, and helped arrange artist-led art experiences for the public. 

Christy was also a long-time fixture in the museum's annual Folk Arts Festival. In recent years you could always find Christy set up in the middle of her art exhibit in the Ayres Associates Gallery. Her disintictive bold-colored jewelry and hats were consistent crowd pleasers. 

Christy's art production and life was much more varied and deeper than the museum's art shows and folk arts festival. We're still learning about the person she was from her family and friends and our deepest sympathies go out to all who loved her. She will be greatly missed. 

More information about Christy's celebration of life and memorial can be found at Olson's Funeral Home in Bloomer. Below is a photo of Christy sitting down during our January 31 Artists Reception.

Peace and goodwill,
Carrie Ronnander
Executive Director, Chippewa Valley Museums

PS: This is has been a bizarre winter and terrible for those who enjoy outdoor winter sports. On February 8, Wisconsin experienced its first recorded tornado touchdown in February, and it happened just five miles from my parents home near Evansville, Wisconsin.

This is not our first unusual winter, of course, though temperatures are warmer than they used to be. Local historian Lois Barland listed some "Unusual Weather" events in her book The Rivers Flow On, published in 1965. I've pulled out the ones pertaining to warm winters:

• 1913. December 2. Lilacs budding. Launches still running on Rice Lake.

• 1930. February 19 and 21. 60 degree temperatures sets record. Frost deeper this year than in many years, disappeared over night. Robins back. Lightning struck 470 Ferry  Street.

• 1931, January 9. Temperature 50 degrees above zero. 

• 1932. January 30. City has first zero weather in more than a year. 

• 1937. February severe dust storm brought dust in snow from south and west, which, when analyzed, proved to be 60% quartz, 10% felspar, 15% mica and 10% plant and animal particles. Dust fell at a rate of 200 pounds to the acre. 

• 1939. December 7. Warmest December day in E.C. history - 56 degrees. December 28 Half Moon Lake still unsafe for skating.

• 1944, January 25-26. 55 degrees.

The 1930s hold records for the hottest summers. I strongly suspect the hot summers and mild winters are connected.

Boyd Park skating rink, 1 February 2024. The skatepark, barely visible in the background, was in heavy use that day. The skating rink was only open 5 days this year.

Archivist Jodi Kiffmeyer used research gathered by a volunteer to write about weather of a different sort that hit Durand in 1907. Read her January 24th #ChippewaValleyHistory social media post shared in full below:

The weather was tough on Durand's post office in August and September of 1907. On Sunday, August 18, one of the area's worst lightning storms hit Pepin, Dunn, and Eau Claire counties. Flooding and lightning strikes caused thousands of dollars worth of damage throughout the area and damaged the Durand post office so badly it was unusable. Some of the building's walls washed away and the brick veneer ended up in the Chippewa River.

A second storm blew through on September 19, almost exactly one month after the first. This one dumped 8 inches of rain on Durand. The water carved out a trench about 100 feet long and 10 feet deep on Main Street directly in front of the post office, which had just been repaired after the first storm. To quote the Eau Claire Leader, "There is a gully cut out underneath [the post office] through the cellar from the front of main street clear to the river and the building is only resting on one center post and a bit of stone wall."

It's interesting to note that the photographer probably stepped out of the door at far right to take this picture. Look closely and you can see "T.G. Raitt, Photographer" painted on the building window. Raitt & Fryklund are credited with this image, which came to the museum on a postcard addressed to Miss Faye Ulberg of Eau Claire and mailed from Durand on November 23, 1908.

Washout on Main Street in Durand, Wis. 19 Sep 1907 (CVM 200000-0101-002)