Table Of Content'
I
Wisconsin Folklife
A Celebration of Wisconsin Traditions
Cover photos, fr01n top:
Norm Dombrnwski and the Happy Notes strike a pose before they sa·ike up
a polka. Photo courtesy of Norm Dombrowski.
Dang Y:mg of Milwaukee displays the qeej, a traditional Hmong
instrument. Photo by Mai Zong Vue.
Packer fans love tailgating at Lam beau Field, Green Bay.
Photo by Andy Kraushaar.
Preparation begins for the Nativity Blessed Virgin Mary parish booyab and
smelt dinner in Tisch i\l{ills. Photo by Andy Kraushaar.
Copyright© 1998 by the \Nisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters
LeRoy R. Lee, Publisher
Marshall Cook, Editor
Lynn Hanus, Managing Editor
Barry Carlsen, University Publications, Designer
Eileen Fitzgerald, University Publications, Production Editor
Printed by Times Printing
Table of Contents
5 Governor's Greeting
6 Introduction
10 The Enduring Craftsmanship of Wisconsin's Native Peoples:
The Ojibwe Birchhark Canoe
by Thomas Vennurn, Ji:
14 The Wisconsin Dairy Farm: A Working Tradition
by Ruth Olson
18 Wisconsin Remains Polka Country
by Richard March
22 The Water Always Calls: Occupational Endurance
and the Life of Daniel "Pete" LeClair
by Michael]. Chiarappn
28 Voices for the Heart: Traditional Hmong Marriage Negotiation
by Mai Zong Vue
32 Cheeseheads, Tailgating, and the Lambeau Leap:
The Green Bay Packers as Wisconsin Folklore
by Robert T. Teske
36 You Can Get Anything You \Vant at La Tienda San Jose
by Craig Stiman
40 Our Own Thumbprint In It: How Dickeyville Created the Grotto
by Anne Pryor
44 Goodness Gracious! For Local Flavor and Fellowship,
You Can't Beat a Church Supper
by Terese Alien
50 Of Hogs and Men: The Folks \Vho Build and Ride the Legendary Harley
by Tom Walker
54 The Harmony Bar Upholds Wisconsin Tavern Tradition
by Gina Grumke
58 A Good Way to Pass the Winter: Sturgeon Speal"ing in Wisconsin
by Ruth Olson
62 Contributors
63 Wisconsin Sesquicentennial Sponsors
A Celebration of Wisconsin Traditions • 3
4 • Wisconsin Folklife
TOMMY G. THOMPSON
Governor
State of Wisconsin
Greetings!
Our yearlong Sesquicentennial celebration offers a great opportunity to explore Wisconsin's
unique heritage, to revisit old friends, and to make new ones.
The variety of sights, sounds, and tastes that makes us Wisconsin. America's shining star, is
truly amazing. Wisconsin's ethnic potpourri. colorful traditions, quality craftsmanship, and
love of the outdoors have made us a tate unlike any other.
People who visited us at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival 1998 in Washington, D.C., aid
Wisconsin people seem to have a special appreciation for life. As the Wisconsin Folklife
Festival comes home lo Wisconsin' Capitol Square, bigger and even better, the celebration
continues, with hundreds of festival participants sharing the vitality and delightful abundance
of "America's State."
The publication you are holding is a folklife festival in print. It captures the rich tapesu·y of
life in Wisconsin: from fishing to high-tech dairying, from the Ojibwe through the recently
arrived Hmong, from handmade crafts to brand-name products instantly known around the
world, from the polka to the Packers.
Wisconsin Fofklife: A Cefebra1io11 of Wisco11si11 Tradi1io11s will be a keepsake of the Wisconsin
Sesquicentennial you will want to share with your family for generations to come.
Sincerely,
Tommy . Thompson
Governor
Room I l 5 East. State Capitol. P.O. Box 7863. Madison. Wisconsin 53707 • (608)266-1212 • FAX (608)267-8983
A Celebmtion of Wisconsin Traditions • 5
Wisconsin Folk.life
W isconsin lies in the heart of a distinctive region of America,
the U pper Midwest. A unique way of life has developed
here, a regional culture shaped by its varied people and
striking natural environment. Moreover, the European immigrants who
settled in Wisconsin during the nineteenth cenrury brought concepts of
civic participation and land stewardship that have deeply influenced social,
cultural, economic, and ecological activity in the state, making an impact
on the state's folklife.
In Wisconsin an attachment to the commu start at dawn and don't encl until after dusk.
nity and its roots remains significant in Kids figure skate or play pick-up hockey
eve1yday life. Volunteers nm communfry fish games at the park lflgoon.
fries, dai1y breakfasts, church lutefisk dinners Much of the southern two-thirds of
or booyah picnics; organize parades for Wisconsin's rolling landscape is dominated
Syttende Mai (N01-wegian Constitution Day), by family dairy farms. During the mid-nine
Cheese Days, and Polish Constitution Day; teenth cennuy, dairy farmers from upstate
and teach their kids to dance a laenclif!'1; ko/o, New York and central Europe established an
tarantella, or schottische, or to play a qeej, enduring agricultural practice suited to
accordion, tmnbm-itzn, or shekeree. Wisconsin's land and climate. Dairy farmers
Wisconsinites engage the state's lands typically provide much of their own hay and
and waters, experiencing the extremes of the corn. These fodder crops nourish the dairy
seasons and using and conserving natural herds that have been bred to produce large
resources. Normal life is suspended during quantities of milk. The cattle generate other
deer season each November when 800,000 by-products, such as meat, leather, and fer
hunters head for the woods. Fishing is per tiljzer. 1 owadays even the whey is processed
vasive in eve1y season and, because so many into valuable lactose and protein products.
people enjoy the sport, live bait dispensers A large majority of the milk produced
are located in many filling stations. Fishers in \Visconsin is processed into 250 varieties
in waders lure brook trout to hand-tied flies. of cheese in the many cheese factories in
On thousands of Wisconsin lakes, bluegills small and large towns throughout the state.
and crappies are hooked from shore, piers, vVisconsin produces 30 percent of the
and boats, or pulled up through the thick cheese in the United States, using cheese
winter ice into fishing shanties. making skills and practices evolved from Old
In the spring, mushroom pickers har World traditions.
vest morels from jealously guarded secret T he land use pattern associated with
spots. Canoes are stacked on many dairy farming contributes to the striking
Wisconsin porches and beside garages ready beauty of\iVisconsin's landsc~1pe. Corn and
to hjt the water. alfalfa fields surround neat farmsteads domi
As fall slides into winter, football fans nated by huge barns and towering silos.
socialize in stadium parking lots over Dairy farmers preserve woodlands on their
bratwurst and beer at rnilgate parties that farms to meet timber neecls and to provide
habitat for the deer harvested in fall for Wisconsin's forests provides tl1e basis for
veruson. timber harvesting folklifc and prompts vitaJ
Family ch1iry forms contTihute to com woodworking traditions. Wisconsin's inland
munity stability and the persistence of tradi "seashores" on Lakes Superior and Michigan
tions. Tn hundreds of \Nisconsin and the thousands of lakes dotting
communities, the family names in the cur Wisconsin's glacial landscape have stimu
rent telephone directo1y match those on the lated boat bujJding and fishing traditions.
headstones in the cemetery. Descendants of T he central North American climate, with
ninetccnth-centmy settlers make up much of its hot summers and cold winters, has pro
the populace in Wisconsin towns, olten duced an annual cycle of activities suited to
lending them an ethnic identity. Westby is the seasons. Wisconsinites tap maple trees
orwegian, Pilsen is Czech, Rosiere is and djp smelt in t11e spring, cut hay, pick
Belgian, Mayville is German, Monroe is cherries, or welcome tourists to h1keside
Swiss, and Little Chute is Dutch. resorts in summer, and ha1-vest corn and
An active citizc111y governs Wisconsin cranberries and hunt geese in the fall.
towns ;rnd cities wid1 ideas stemming from Commtmity festivals crowd \i\Tisconsin's
t11e mid-nincteentl1 century anti-monarchist warmer months, but W isconsinites' famed
revolutions in ccntn1l Europe. Idealistic propensity for partying also defies tl1e cold.
leade1·s, especially from the ranks of the so Wisconsinites celebrate winter carnivals,
called German "Forty-eightcrs," sought to compete in ski races and ice fishing tourna
establish a just and participatory society in ments, and tu.rn the parking lot of Lambeau
their new homeland. Examples of their Field into a cold weather Mardi Gras for
legacy are still found in local control of every Green Bay Packers home game.
infrastructure, in active rural to"''nship gov Cultural sharing began witl1 what tl1e
en1ment, :md in a history of pioneering Europeans learned from Native Americans.
efforts toward industrial democracy. European immigrants obse1-ved the fishing,
These stable and participatory commu hunting, and gathering practices of the
nities have spawned Wisconsin folklife, and Woodland Indian n-ibes. Native pnictices
the varied traditions have inAuenced one influenced tl1e way European immigrants
another. The Belgians of southern Door began to tap maple trees for sugar, gather
County have embraced tl1e brass band dance and use wild rice, fish for walleyes and
music of their C;-.cch neighbors in muskellunge, and hunt deer. For example,
Kewaunee County, for examplt:, while the nineteentl1-century German American farm
Czech C:itholic parish picnics in the area ers in the Lake Winnebago area observed
serve up the Belgians' booynh soup from sixty indigenous Ho-Chunk fishers spearing Sl1.1r
gallon cauldrons. geons mrough the February ice and took up
People of northern and cenn·al tl1e practice tl1emselves. Today the descen
European origins have been the most dants of tl1ose immigrants assemble a tem
nun1erous, hut immigrants from all over the porary village of some four to five d1ous:-111d
world spice the \Nisconsin cultural mix. In ice fishing shanties on Lake Winnebago.
this etl1nic stew, some Old \iVorld folhvays Inside the shanties, witl1 spears at the ready,
like the making of Norwegian Hardanger these fishers pee1· into the greenish water,
fiddles or the weaving of Latvi;m sashes have some listening to polkas on AM. radio from
been preserved or revived similar to their nearby Chilton, others sipping homemade
original form. Ot11er traditions like polka honey wine made from Wisconsin wild
music and dancing or quilting are truly grapes and an Old World recipe, all hoping
Americ;111, having developed from a mixture, and waiting for tl1e rare moment when a
a kind of "crcolization" of the contributions monsn-ous five- to eight-foot sturgeon might
of various cultural groups living side by side come nosing around their submerged fish
in \iVisconsin. decoy.
The climate, geography, :ind economy At the end of the nineteenth and
of\Visconsin have shaped many shared through the twentietl1 centllly, arrivals of
regional traditions. T he ;ihundant timber of soud1ern and eastern Europeans, African
A Celebmtio11 of Wisconsin Traditions• 7
Americans, Asians, and Latinos have neighbo1-hoods comprised of blocks of well
enriched the cultural landscape. The most kept modest frame houses with churches and
numerous eastern Europeans :ire Polish taverns on the street corners. T he church
Ame1·icans, with substantial communities in basement and the corner bar have served
Wisconsin industrial towns. /Vlilwaukee's these neighborhoods as welcoming social
south side, with Polish ethnic l:mdmarks like centers, much as do the churches and cross
the St. Josephat Basilica and the shrine to St. roads taverns in vVisconsin's rural areas. In
J\!Tary Czestohowa at St. Stanislaus Church, both urban and rural communities, o·adi
is the state's largest "Polonia" (the njckname tional n1usic, ch1nce, crn~s, foodways, and
for a compact Polish American neighbor religious trnditions have been preserved
hood). Restaurants offer traditional Polish through generations in these twin hubs of
foods like pierogi and czami11fl. Numerous community social life.
Polish lodges, social clubs, soccer teams, Many religious communities have an
choirs, and folk dance groups pursue Polish ethnic as well as a denominational aspect.
religious and social customs. Artisans like One Lutheran church might attract primar
Bernice J endrzejczak, a maker of wyci11n11ki ily Norwegian parishioners, while another
(paper cut art), practice Polish handicrafts. appeals to Germans. Catholic churches may
1ilwaukee's large African American he predominantly Polish, German, Irish,
commuruty boasts a so·ong trndition of 1\llexican, Italian, Croatian, or Slovak.
gospel music and traditional crafts like quilt Ser-vices may be offered in tl1e language of
ing and doll making. The Queens of the old homeland as well as in English.
l·Iarmony sing traditional a cappella gospel. Church women's dubs and altar societies
Velma Seales and Blanche Shankle arc active practice et1111ic crafts and fooclways.
in a Milwaukee women's quilt group. --Cwerns provide anotl1er venue for et11-
George McCormick carves and dresses nic or regional traditions. Polka dancers
wooden dolls, while Mary Lcazer's making twirl to the concertina player's tunes at a
of traditional rag dolls has drawn he1-hus wedding in tl1e church hall or at the local
band, George Leazer, into the creation of Fricl<1y night fish fry in a tavern clown tl1e
dioramas comprised of his handmade clay road. Elfrieda r lacse remembers tl1e women
dolls arranged to depict African American of her community catching up on gossip
social customs. while knitting in a booth in Schaegler's
\iVhilc earlier immigrants came to -iavern in J\llilwaukcc while tl1e men played
farm, cut timber, or mine ores, the indus cards or sang.
trial cities of southeastern Wisconsin Friday night in vVisconsin means taking
increasingly attracted new arrivals to work tl1e whole family to a t;wern for a fish fry.
in factories, mills, foundries, and packing taverns participate in softball and bowling
houses, on the docks and shipyards of leagues, organize group outings to sports
Great Lakes ports, and in railway shops and events, and host card games like euchre,
roundhouses. Today southeastern cribbage, and shecpshead, and indoor sports
\Nisconsin abounds with skilled machinists like darts and cluck pins, a scaled-down
..v ho create consn·uction equipment, f;.inn bowling game .
implements, and tools. A few, like retired The crossroads bar may serve as a
millwright Roy Treder, have turned these Wisconsin Department of larural
skills ro artistic pursuits. vVhen a retire Resources registration station clu1·ing hunt
ment gift is needed for a fellow worker at ing and fishing seasons. Snapshots of
Milwaukee's Harley-Davidson motorcycle huntc1·s and fishers weighing or measuring
factory, Roy welds an elaborate base for a their catches may be rnped to the walls.
clock or lamp from tools and machinery Some taverns serve as local museums witl1
parts symbolic of that fellow worker's historic photographs, old-fashioned farming
carce1·. Roy has created more than 200 such or logging tools, or record-sized muskies or
retirement gift sculptures. surrgeon or bucks' heads clispl::iyed on the
Wisconsin's industrial towns and cities w::ills. Musical instruments, for displ::iy or
arc a patchwork of urb'1n ethnic villages, play, adorn many taverns.
8 • Wisconsin Folklife
