July 4, 2007

It took a while as good things often do, but the small native prairie at the southwest corner of the Crawford County Administrative Building has grown up nicely and is in full bloom for all to enjoy.

"This is a representation of what the early settlers saw when they came here," said Land Conservation Coordinator Russell Hagen, who noted that the prairie was grown to highlight an important historical and cultural aspect of Crawford County.

Hagen said that before the lock and dam system was put into place, rich soil was deposited widely in the Prairie du Chien area by floods each spring. This rich soil gave rise to the variety of hearty plants that make up a sand prairie.

The hearty plants of a prairie are an indicator of good, fertile soil, which is one of the reasons that Native Americans were attracted to the region. The soil was good for raising crops, said Hagen.

The prairie at the County Building was plantd by Prairie du Chien High School students in September of 2005 under the supervision of biology teacher Dennis Lenzendorf. The prairie can be used as a learning tool by area students and others wishing to learn more about plant identification and other biological aspects of a prairie.

"As it evolves, we hope to do more plant identification," said Hagen, who noted that it takes a long time for a prairie to fully develop. Hagen said that the prairie may eventually get close to what the prairies of the area might have been like hundreds of years ago.

The most noticeable and prominent plant in the prairie now is the bright, yellow Sand Coreopsis. A couple of the other plants include Canadian Milk Vetch and Little Blue Stem.

Recently, members of the Prairie du Chien Rod and Gun Club erected two native prairie interpretive signs on prairies at the gateway to Prairie du Chien.

The club purchased the signs for placement at the native prairie west of the Wisconsin Tourism Center and at the kiosk near the prairie east of the wayside between the bridges on U.S. Highway 18.

Both of these native prairies have been managed and improved by volunteers since the early 1990s. A variety of native prairie plants grow on these remnants.

The plants include Purple Coneflower, Milkwort, Blazing Star, Whorled Milkweed, Butterfly Milkweed, Black-eyed Susan, Little Blue Stem and Side-oats Grama.

Although Crawford County, with its incredible scenery and rich history, always has something to celebrate, the merrymaking and festivities should reach an all-time high the weekend of September 15 and 16 when anywhere from five to seven different communities will host events.

Dubbed "Crawford County Celebrates," the all-out weekend will include a sesquicentennial celebration in Seneca; the Driftless Region Art Fair in Gays Mills; a Wauzeka craft fair, farmer's market and evening street dance; a Market in the Park in Ferryville; and the 10th annual Cannons and Redcoats celebration in Prairie du Chien.

Coordinated by the Crawford County Tourism Council, the idea of a county-wide celebration came about following the success of the first Driftless Area Art Festival in Ferryville in 2005, chaired now as then by Jerry and Liz Quebe of Soldiers Grove. That effort, supported by a matching JEM grant from the state Department of Tourism, drew about 2,000 visitors.

The second year of the art festival, Fort Crawford's Cannons and Redcoats, already a successful event on its own merit, lent support as a companion event, and Wauzeka joined in with a craft fair and city-wide garage sale.

Because of the success of these events, said Eric Frydenlund, coordinator of the Tourism Council, "the Crawford County Celebrates slogan came about, because we are looking to spread the wealth around. We want to bring money to Crawford County for that weekend, and we want all the communities in the county to benefit."

This year, the events will be advertised beyond the immediate area. "Research shows," said Frydenlund, "that most of the people have been coming from a 60-mile radius. We want to bring people in from 200 and 300 miles away as well, and have them stay overnight. We have to have enough activities to justify an entire weekend."

Right now, it doesn't appear that will be a problem, since it would be all but impossible for one person to enjoy all the events planned for the weekend; many celebrations break down into numerous activities.

As part of its sesquicentennial activities, for example, Seneca is planning an antique tractor pull, a Little League tournament, a quilt exhibit, an ice cream social, food and beverage tents, button and sweatshirt sales and a village-wide rummage sale. Businesses in the village are also running special sales.

Prairie du Chien's Cannons and Redcoats event makes history come alive in the form of demonstrations and oral traditions, and this year members of Downtown Revitalization, Inc. will join the celebration with a parade which marches from St. Feriole Island to Fort Crawford, promotional sales, quilting displays and merchants in costume.

The Driftless Area Art Festival, to be held this year at the fairground in Gays Mills to accommodate more people, should be bigger and better than ever. As of last week, 67 artists had registered to participate in the festival.

Also being considered for the weekend are a car show and cruise and a bicycle/canoe event.

As remarkable as the birth of "Crawford County Celebrates" is the birth and growth of the Tourism Council itself. The council was organized in 2003 when it was recognized that a Crawford County brochure had not been printed in several years and there was nothing to distribute to promote tourism.

Eric Frydenlund and Dale Klemme, who heads Community Development Alternatives, started talking to other people and formed a group to produce the brochure. This evolved into a tourism committee, which then became the Crawford County Tourism Council. As of now, eight communities are represented: DeSoto, Ferryville, Prairie du Chien, Wauzeka, Gays Mills, Soldiers Grove, Seneca and Eastman.

The group put together a website, which can be visited at www.crawfordcountywi.com, and lists information about the county's events and attractions as well as its artisans.

From there, in addition to planning the art fair, which has now grown into a multi-event occasion, they organized a bike committee, which published a county bike trail map this spring, and have recently formed the Kickapoo River Committee, whose goal is to make the lower Kickapoo navigable for canoeing. They are now in the process of putting together a strategic plan for the council.