The Ren Faire of the Prairie

 

I'm not sure how to explain my fascination with all things Wisconsin, so I won't try.  Suffice it to say that when I first read the following event description a few years ago, it was not a question of if I would go, but only when.

I got my chance to go this June, and it was all I had hoped for.  The Rendezvous is always held over Father's Day Weekend, probably so knife-obsessed Dads can have a bargaining chip to drag their families to it.  I was way more invested in the Rendezvous than Larry, so I made my way to Prairie du Chien alone.

I flew into Minneapolis and rented a car for the three-hour drive to P du C.  At first the drive was pleasant, and I stopped for a tasty Culver's ButterBurger in Rochester.  As the sun began to set, however, foggy mists rose off the fields and drifted across the road, the deer came out, and lightning crackled ominously off to my right.  By the time I made it safely to my AirBNB, my nerves were shot and I was very grateful for my suitcase whiskey.

My AirBNB was the second floor of a modest old house next to the train tracks.  Every time a train went by (roughly every hour all day and all night) the horns made a terrific noise and the whole house rattled.  I liked it.  It felt very authentic, as transportation was what drove the development of Prairie du Chien.

The next day the Rendezvous wasn't quite set up, so I toured the town.  I have read a lot about Prairie du Chien, so it was very exciting for me to visit the Headquarters of the Prairie du Chien Historical Society and Museum and Fort Crawford Civil War Hospital.

I know that visiting three sites in one afternoon may sound ambitious, but it was not a problem at all.  The displays were heartfelt, but modest.  The three adjacent buildings house a variety of exhibits put together by townspeople who cared deeply about many diverse topics and who were all given some space to express themselves.  Here are two of my favorites:

A local girl rides to fame (?)

Did you know buttons were made from river clams??

I spent some time chatting up the one young woman in charge of all three buildings.  She told me about a few places that I should visit in the area.  Over the next few days, I ended up at all five!  If you'd like to follow along, they were: Veteran's Plaza, Muddy Waters Pizza, Spring Lake Inn, Effigy Mounds, and Lansing.  

Veteran's Plaza is a gazebo on the river in which local acts perform on Thursday nights during the summer.  At the coffee shop where I had my breakfast and at the museum, I was told that I simply HAD to go see the Chris Farley impersonator at Veteran's Plaza that night.  When I rolled up, there were at least a hundred people ready to be entertained.

I  had my doubts about this so-called entertainment, and my doubts were correct.  It was as bad as you might imagine it would be.  I walked back to town and made my way to Muddy Waters Pizza, where I had the house special, The Big Muddy, at the suggestion of the friendly proprietor/pizza maker.  

If you take the time to count, as I did, you will see that this pizza has nineteen (19) toppings, including sauerkraut and pineapple.  

Perhaps you are saying to yourself, what a grand idea!  Perhaps all pizzas should have 19 toppings!  The answer is no, all pizzas should not have 19 toppings.

The next day I ventured out to Effigy Mounds National Monument across the river in Iowa, which I can unreservedly recommend.  It is a beautiful, fascinating, and well-maintained park with some great mounds.

Historians and archaeologists are not sure why the river people built these animal-shaped mounds on the cliffs.  Before Netflix, people seemed to have a lot more time for frivolous projects.  It was a really lovely day, and there was hardly anyone there, so the deer, the chipmunks, the birds and I had the woods mostly to ourselves.

After my hike I had the early-bird fish-fry dinner at the Spring Lake Supper Club with two brandy old-fashioneds.  Just fantastic.

A little tipsy, I stopped by the graveyard outside of town and found the graves of early Prairie du Chien residents Hercules Louis and Nina Sturgis Dousman, which was extremely exciting for me, as I have read a lot about them.

If you and I are ever at a cocktail party together and you're bored, ask me about the Dousmans and you'll be bored in a whole new way.

I assumed that, as with the many Renaissance Faires I have attended, the Prairie Rendezvous participants would make an attempt at period dress.  So before my trip I sewed myself a calico dress and got out my leather bag and moccasins and straw hat.  On Saturday morning I donned my outfit and headed to the river.

It turns out that the only people who dress for the Rendezvous are vendors.  Luckily the vendors didn't all know each other, so they all assumed I was taking a very long lunch break.  I was curious to see what items would be for sale.  The answer?  Mostly knives and axes.  Also some beads, fur hats, blankets, and cookware.

The Rendezvous is held on the island of St. Feriole, which is also the site of the Villa Louis, the historic home of the Dousman family, now operated as a tourist attraction by the Wisconsin Historical Society.  I took the opportunity to tour the home in my period dress, which was very fun for me.  Our tour guide was the self-composed Marietta, a 15-year-old girl who introduced herself and said we were her second tour EVER.  She then asked if we knew anything about the Dousman family.  Reader, I know a great deal about the Dousman family, but I took pity on Marietta and feigned ignorance.

There was one of those men on the tour who asks questions just to show how much he knows about some obscure topic.  In this case, walnut furniture.  He kept saying things such as "Marietta, is it true that the porcelain wheels on that walnut tea trolley make it more valuable than most walnut tea trolleys?  How much do you think it's worth?"  Marietta kept her cool admirably.  I think she will go far.

To cap off my day, I attended Mass in my period dress at St. Gabriel's, where the Dousmans worshipped.  I am still mindful of Covid, however, and when the congregation began lustily singing unmasked, I ducked out.  I mean, I think God helps those who aren't complete idiots.  There was an excellent graveyard out back.

As I walked back to my AirBNB, I came across these excellent railroad signs.  I include this picture simply because I like it.

On Sunday I headed to Lansing, Iowa for the river views and Horsfalls Variety Store.  Here is a river view picture which I got a bemused family to take for me.

Horsfalls Variety store is a local institution.  It is a three-generations old dry-goods store which has morphed into the mother of all kitschy variety stores.  I loved it.  It now occupies three buildings and it carries everything from canning supplies to garden gnomes to kitchen gadgets to darning thread to bucket hats to lawn chairs to crock pots.  The home decor items especially appealed to me.

The bear looks happy, but the rabbit looks scared

After poking around happily for hours and buying several obscure items, I headed to Jones' Black Angus Supper Club for my last dinner in Prairie du Chien.  The Black Angus has been around for decades and they know what Wisconsinites want:

A brandy old-fashioned and lots of atmosphere.  I really enjoyed my long weekend in Prairie du Chien, and I hope to be back soon.  As I said, I'm not sure exactly why I love it so much, but I definitely could have riskier obsessions.