What We’re Loving

A LITTLE LIST OF WHAT WE THINK IS AWESOME IN THE DRIFTLESS REGION THIS SPRING...

Decoride For Decorah Free Clinic

A new event to support the Decorah Community Free Clinic will take place on May 6, 2023 on the Trout Run Trail. The Free Clinic has been in existence for 20 years, with a mission to provide primary care for those who are un/underinsured. An ever-growing amount of people are seeking services from the Free Clinic and, therefore, the cost of medications, care, and staffing are becoming larger challenges. With funding coming almost entirely from local individuals, clubs, and businesses, the Clinic is always in need of financial support. To compound the challenges, the Clinic is anticipating relocation in the next year, creating additional needs for funding to support a new lease agreement and the costs of moving.

The good news is that a fun and fantastic group of local citizens and Luther students who share a passion for cycling have gotten together with a goal to raise $10,000 to help support the Free Clinic.

The cycling event will take place on Saturday, May 6, 2023 on Trout Run Trail, beginning at 10 am at Will Baker Park and ending at Pulpit Rock Brewery with an after party. Snacks, water, and assistance will be provided as needed along the trail.

Pre-registration is required, and if you’d like to do an apparel order, it must be completed by April 17 (if just cycling, registration closes April 24). For more information, scan the QR code here, visit linktr.ee/DECORIDE, or contact Souk at sengso01@luther.edu

RIDGES & RIVERS BOOK FEST!

The first Ridges & Rivers Book Festival will be held in Viroqua April 28-30, 2023. The three-day event will be a celebration of reading, writing, creativity, and community. The festival brings the community and visitors together face-to-face with authors in a variety of ways - through readings, book-signings, workshops, and presentations. The fest looks to bring people together in the exploration of ideas and the literary and visual arts by engaging all kinds of readers at every age.

There’s even a fun hook to Decorah, as Dragonfly Books will be coordinating book sales and small/independent presses at the onsite book fair.

The festival is sponsored by the Driftless Writing Center [a 501(c)3 nonprofit] and the McIntosh Memorial Library. www.facebook.com/RidgesandRiversBF

MCINTOSH MEMORIAL LIBRARY...OF THE YEAR

As we’ve definitely mentioned, we love print… so naturally, we love libraries (the OG bastions of print). Big congrats to the McIntosh Memorial Library in Viroqua for being named the Wisconsin Library Association’s “Library of the Year” award in late 2022!

McIntosh Memorial Library has been a community beacon in downtown Viroqua since 1904. Even when the library closed due to COVID-19 mandates, library staff remained resilient – curbside services were implemented and shortly thereafter, contactless lobby service. Library staff organized a D.I.Y. face mask drive during the nation-wide PPE shortage for essential workers, and perhaps most impactful, a Library Band (of the music variety) was formed. The librarians streamed and recorded their live performances, which were also broadcast by a local cable television station to all cable subscribers including area nursing homes and assisted living facilities. The intent was to bring local, friendly messages and joyful music into homes. Following suit, when the mandates lifted, the Library Band traveled to nursing homes and assisted living facilities to relieve isolation and spur outreach, good memories, and joy. The library continues to provide hope as the only centrally located site for weekly COVID-19 Vaccine Clinics in the City of Viroqua. Due to her leadership of guiding the library through COVID-19 safety protocols, the tenured Library Director of 14 years, Trina Erickson, was appointed to serve as the City’s Public Information Officer by the Mayor. Since 2020, Erickson has been serving with the City Administrator as representatives of the city on the Vernon County Emergency Management and COVID-19 Response Team Committees. 118 years after opening, and especially through the uncertain times of a worldwide pandemic, the McIntosh Memorial Library continues to shine as a community beacon. www.wisconsinlibraries.org

Guest Artist – Decorah’s Own: Philip Wharton, violinist

Festive Overture – Dmitri Shostakovich

Concerto for Violin and Orchestra – Philip Wharton Symphony No. 1 in C Minor – Johannes Brahms

The New York Times proclaimed Philip Wharton’s playing “a rousing performance!” His compositions are described by the New York Concert Review as “decidedly contemporary... both engaging and accessible.”

Sarah Zbornik

With you every step of the way

Decorah Hatchery Turns 100

The Decorah Hatchery is turning 100 – and we think it’s worth crowing about!

What is now one of our region’s best sources for high quality outdoor gear and clothing was originally exactly what you would think: A building where baby chicks were hatched! For just shy of a century, the Matter family kept chicks peeping away and helped create small farm flocks across Northeast Iowa and beyond. In the same location since 1928, John Matter started in the chicken business in 1923, and the Hatchery brought millions of chicks into the world through 2009, when the last egg was hatched. Through those later years, the third generation Matters brought in supplemental business via outdoor gear and clothing – an opportunity recognized through their own travel and adventures.

The Decorah Hatchery was a typical chick facility of its time, consisting of three Petersime redwood incubators each holding 20,000 eggs, from which 14,000 baby chicks were hatched each week. (You can still see pieces of these incubators repurposed into the shop in downtown Decorah!). Early in the morning, twice weekly, the fresh chicks were taken from the hatching trays, counted by hand, and put into cardboard boxes, 100 to a box. Most were picked up by local farmers soon after, though some went to the post office to be mailed to farms in Iowa or neighboring states. In later years, specialty markets, like the region’s Amish farmers, kept the chick hatching business clucking along.

As small farms turned into bigger farms and the hatching business shifted, the Matter family continued building up their outdoor goods offerings, specializing in high quality gear and brands that weren’t readily available in the region. The Hatchery also became famous for their “Quality Chick” t-shirts and apparel, which have been spotted from coast-to-coast and beyond.

As third generation owners Steve & Peg Matter approached retirement, the decision was made to sell the store to fresh new owners. The Hatchery continued to flourish under Maria and Drew Stevenson for the next several years until Steve & Peg’s son, Nathan Matter, returned to Decorah. He picked up the family thread and took over operations of the Decorah Hatchery for a fourth generation.

As part of their 100th anniversary celebration, Nathan commissioned a fun and unique custom Decorah Hatchery advertising poster from cult art-world stars and Manhattan immigrant bachelor brothers Miguel and Carlos Cevallos. The brothers, 81 and 79, have been making hand drawn advertising signs since they were teenagers in Bogotá, Colombia, by way of Ecuador. For decades, their work has graced the five boroughs of New York, and a young friend of theirs launched their work into the world during the pandemic. The original Decorah Hatchery Cevallos poster is displayed at the Hatchery, beautifully framed by Decorah’s Perfect Edge. Look for a 100th Anniversary Ribbon Cutting with the Decorah Chamber of Commerce this spring!