The eight-foot logs in the logging museum parking lot are a daily reminder the US Open Chainsaw Sculpture Championship is just around the corner. Have you marked the dates on your calendar (August 1-4)? Bought your tickets? Signed up to volunteer? Told your friends about it? These are all the things you can do to help make this signature event a roaring success.

US Open Chainsaw is front and center at the moment, but there are a number of other things going on as well.

July Walking Tour

What the River Saw: Disasters and Head Scratchers on the Chippewa

Wednesday, July 17, 12:00 pm

There are still a few spots open for the noon walking tour on Wednesday, July 17. The 1.5-hour tour wends its way along the Chippewa River through downtown, along Owen Park, and over to the university. There are many tidbits of local history you will absolutely love encountering.

Cost: $12 Adults, $10 Seniors, $5 Students. $2 Member Discount [must log-in for discount]. Register online using the button below or contact Angela Allred, 715-834-7871.

Music on the Lawn

Sunday, July 21, 1:00-3:00pm

Klezmazel and Maple Ridge Band brought listeners and dancers to museum grounds on July 7. More music is coming your way July 21, August 1, and August 2. Check out the log house and school house while you're here.  In the event of rain music will move inside to the auditorium at the CVM main exhibit building. 

Sunday, July 21

• 1:00 Guitar-violin duo Joe Thielen and Olaf Lind

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

Bonues: attend the concert and enter to win tickets to the US Open Chainsaw Sculpture Championship

Coming in August:

• August 1 - Jim Nelson, free, at Meet the Carvers Pre-Championship Party, 5-8pm.

• August 2 - Irie Sol at the US Open Chainsaw Sculpture Championship, 9pm with Andy Hanson opening at 8pm. Concert is included with event admission. Get tickets below.

August Events

US Open Chainsaw 

Pre-Championship Party

August 1, 5-8pm

Stop by Carson Park from 5-8pm on August 1st for our Pre-Championship Party with no event admission. You'll meet the carvers, have the chance to bid on a selection of sculptures at the auction, and hear singer/songwriter Jim Nelson perform. Food and drink will be available for purchase

Extra Opportunity!!!
Visitors can stop by Carson Park during the day on Thursday at no charge to watch the carvers begin their sculptures. Museum visits require regular admission Thursday-only (Friday-Sunday, museums are included with event admission).

US Open Chainsaw 

Sculpture Championship

August 2-4

As I was saying above, US Open Chainsaw Sculpture Championship is just about here. Don't miss the action in Carson Park. Witness incredible chainsaw carving, live music, and delicious food trucks.  Bonus -- proceeds raised during the event will support museum programs all year long.

New this year: Live concert on Friday night included with event admission.  Children 12 & under are FREE all weekend long.

Ticket Tiers:
Advance Purchase through 7/26/24 (Best Value!)
One Day: $12 (Save $6)
Full Event: $20 (Save $5)

General Admission
One Day: $18
Full Event: $25

Children 12 & under are FREE

Remember: Volunteers receive free event admission for the full weekend.

Coming to your email inbox on July 19: A full Practical Guide to the US Open Chainsaw. Championship with all the information you need toknow.

Echoes of Eau Claire: A Walking Tour through Lakeview Cemetery

August 8 OR August 15, 6:00 - 7:30

This journey through Lakeview Cemetery with volunteer guides Greg Kocken and Robert Gough will explore fascinating memorials and reveal the tapestry of lives connected to these monuments. The 90-minute walk will be over level ground but be prepared to encounter ghosts or other spectral creatures who have been reported to visit the cemetery in the evening. Registration is available online through the calendar at cvmuseum.com.

Start location and other details will be emailed to registrants the day prior to the tour. Rain date: Aug 22.

Cost: $12 Adults, $10 Seniors, $5 Students. $2 Member Discount [must log-in for discount]

Campfire Stories and Sing Along

Wednesday, August 21, 7:00-8:30

Bring your favorite Wisconsin summer memory (along with a lawn chair and your favorite beverage) to an end-of-summer campfire. Ken Szymanski and Derick Black will help us celebrate Chippewa Valley Museum's 50th anniversary in Carson Park. Ken leads off with a summer story and then we’ll open the mic for anyone who wants to share a family-appropriate tale. Derick will lead a sing-along ending with Happy Birthday.

Reserve your free tickets by clicking "register" below.

Groups of school-age children went behind-the-scenes this week as part of their History Hide and Seek summer class. Staff were universally delighted by the kids' enthusiasm and questions. One youngster declared the museum to be a "History Heaven." I agree. I hope you do, too.

Thank you for helping to enrich and excite the next generation.

Peace,

Carrie Ronnander
Executive Director, Chippewa Valley Museums

PS - Last fall, Jodi, the museum's archivist, sent me this message:

"I just dug up a scrapbook from the company that demolished Fourniers. There are photos of the exterior we don’t have in our collection ??".

Jodi immediately followed that message with, "And I'm 95% sure we now have 3 photos of the interior." That was big news, because up to that point, we had exactly zero photos of the interior.

Fournier's interior prior to demolition in 1971 (Harry S. Thompson scrapbook, Chippewa Valley Museum 905000-0047-001   )

The scrapbook turned out to be Harry S. Thompson's scrapbook. It was donated in 2016 and put in the "to-do" scanning queue. The fact that it took seven years to scan is an indicator of the volume of photo prints, scrapbooks, albums, and slides in the museum's collection.

Jodi featured the scrapbook in a recent #ChippewaValleyHistory social media post. Below is the original post as well as a few additional photos from the album.

Harry Thompson Used Lumber trailer, 1972 (Harry S. Thompson scrapbook, Chippewa Valley Museum 598500-0005-001)

Here in the archives, we're thankful for a man named Harry Thompson, who owned Thompson's Used Lumber in Eau Claire for over three decades. Harry's company dismantled many of the familiar buildings from the city's history and sold the salvaged materials. He kept a photo diary of the jobs he worked on, documenting them with before, during, and after photos of the process. Thanks to Harry, and his son who donated his photo album to the archives, we have demolition photos of the old Water St. firehouse, Lange Canning Co., and a couple dozen other businesses and houses in town. We were most excited to find rare photos of Fournier's Ballroom (if you have interior or exterior photos of Fournier's to donate, we'd love to have them!).

Thompson worked outside of Eau Claire as well. In 1959, he was busy dismantling the railroad depot in the village of Rusk (Dunn County). In 1872, the Omaha Railway built this tiny station that gave Rusk a jump start. Businesses and services began to appear. Soon the village boasted a post office, blacksmith's shop, grain elevator, hotel, creamery, shoemaker, saloon, and much more. The depot also served as an important site for shipping wheat from local farmers, until the chinch bug wiped out crops in the late 1800s and the local economy turned to dairy farming. --Jodi, CVM Archivist, with research assistance from volunteer Nikki J.

Rusk Railroad Depot before and during demolition, 1959 (Harry S. Thompson scrapbook, Chippewa Valley Museum 598500-0051-001 and 598500-0053-001  )

Above: McDonough Schooi demolition, about 1975 (Harry S. Thompson scrapbook, Chippewa Valley Museum 375070-0019-001) 

Below: McDonough School, northwest corner N. Dewey & Wisconsin Streets, 1910s. It was built as the First Ward School in1907 and renamed McDonough School in 1951 (Chippewa Valley Museum 375700-0060-002).

Exterior of house at 411 Gray Street, about 1956. Wood Motor Company hired Thompson's Used Lumber and Salvage to demolish the house. Today this area is the parking lot north of the Schlegelmilch House. If you look closely you can spot the Schlegelmilch House in the left background. (Harry S. Thompson scrapbook, Chippewa Valley Museum, #598500-0021-001)