DriftlessNow.com’s focus is on the nature, geological features, cultures, and people of the Driftless area. In addition, we showcase events that celebrate the pride and diversity that makes the Southwest Wisconsin Driftless region unique.
All in Wisconsin Native American
The Bad Axe, a beautiful river but with a sad and violent history.
The timing couldn’t have been better for Hoocąk (Ho-Chunk)/White Earth Ojibwe artist Christopher Sweet, as November is National Native American Heritage month.
When people stop by our farm on their way to Wildcat Mountain State Park or the Kickapoo Valley Reserve, they are often in awe of the beauty.
With the unofficial end of Summer in the Dells marked by Labor Day, if you went to any number of eating venues, there is a good chance you caught musician Marc LaMere jamming out.
The night sky, a truly amazing experience for anyone able to find a place to star gaze with limited to no light, man made of course, to spoil it.
On May 5th, a couple hundred people gathered in Burns Park across the street from the Ni Tani Hocira (Three Rivers House) Hoocąk (Ho-Chunk) Nation La Crosse Branch Office in La Crosse, Wisconsin, for the second annual Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) 5k run/walk.
As a part of the annual Sauk Prairie Eagle Watching days, the Sauk Prairie Area Historical Society again welcomed Art Shegonee. Shegonee, a Menominee and Potawatomi activist, dance artist, and educator, has served as an ambassador to Wisconsin Indian Summer that used to be held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
On November 21st, the Kickapoo Valley Reserve (KVR) located just outside of LaFarge, Wisconsin, welcomed its new Executive Director, Lynn Kronschnabel.
“The way that I learned was from my grandmother and my mother. A lot of what we were told was to be quiet, to sit there, to listen and to work. We listened to what our elders told us and we also obeyed whatever they told us to do,” said Hoocąk (Ho-Chunk) Janice Rice.
An offshoot of Fermentation Fest and the Farm/Art Dtour in Sauk County, the Native American Arts Marketplace featured authentic Native art, crafts, storytelling, and food over the first two weekends of this month.
While Mother Earth continues to feel the effects of humans in a not so positive way, a group in Soldiers Grove, Wisconsin is taking steps to give back to her. The ‘Swamp Project People’, have that very intention.
Back in October of 2020, I had published a story titled “WilloWood Inn: A special place in the Baraboo range”. The WilloWood Inn was purchased by Angie Lowe and her husband Aaron in February of 2018, and Angie has put in a considerable amount of time and hard work with the help of her family to improve the Inn.
