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Top 10 Reasons to Visit the Waukesha County Fair

1) Support Talented Youth: Waukesha County kids show off the meat animals they’ve raised at the County Fair, along with other outstanding 4-H and FFA projects including Photography, Woodworking, Computers, Flowers and Plants, Quilting, Mechanical Sciences, and more. See what these talented youths have accomplished, and support them as they advance! 2) Meet the Farm: […]

Chalk the Walk

Each May, the streets of downtown Mount Vernon are covered with impressive portraits made of chalk. Hundreds of artists use more than half a ton of chalk to transform sidewalks into galleries. The festival, called Chalk the Walk, is based on works by the Italian Madonnari: seventeenth century street artists whose most popular theme was […]

All Things Swedish in Isanti and Kanabec Counties

Visit a monumental Mora Horse, the Mora Klocka, the Vasaloppet ski race, and more in Isanti and Kanabec Counties. Dala horses are wooden, horse-shaped toys that have been crafted and traded in Sweden since 1623. A painter named Stika-Erik Hansson from Mora – the Minnesotan city’s namesake – began the tradition of painting elaborate saddle […]

Chippewa Grove of Joy

For centuries, the Potawatomi and Mole Lake Chippewa tribes have harvested wild rice, hosted pow-wows, and enriched Forest County’s historical and cultural legacy. Learn more about the Potawatomi and Chippewa by visiting these sites! The recently renovated Wilhelm Dineson Cabin in Mole Lake (one of Wisconsin’s oldest) will give you a glimpse in to 1860’s […]

Kane County’s Charming Historical Spots

America’s early movie theaters drew excited crowds with silent films and live vaudeville acts. The Arcada Theater Building in St. Charles and Paramount Theatre in Aurora, which have hosted some of America’s most famous performers since the 1920’s (including Judy Garland, the John Phillip Sousa Band, the Beach Boys, and more), are still operating as […]

Pierre Bottineau: Explorer, Interpreter, and Guide

Bottineau’s Prairie Pierre Bottineau was an explorer, interpreter, and guide who founded multiple Minnesotan settlements which would later become the cities of Maple Grove, Osseo, and Breckenridge. Bottineau was half French and half Chippewa and spoke English, French, Sioux, Chippewa, Cree, Mandan, and Winnebago. He was over six feet tall and was considered by many […]

Yellowstone County Trivia

Yellowstone County Trivia Billings is named after the first president of the Northern Pacific Railway, Frederick H. Billings. The railroad spurred the growth of the town, which was nicknamed “The Magic City” because it seemed to appear overnight. Hesper is named after Hesperus, the personification of the Evening Star in Greek mythology associated with the […]