Date: Tue, 17 Sep 2013 14:03:57 -0500 Message-ID: <CAOqvhe10rc6AqGnZtrh9Ca3C+Xnddw8EVFSHk7tinAOu9Kg10A@mail.gmail.com> Subject: PRESS RELEASE: Iola's 4th Annual Taste of Norway & Lost Arts Fair coming up Oct. 5 From: "onthelake2 tds.net" <onthelake2@tds.net>
*FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE*
*Contact: Greg Loescher, **onthelake2@tds.net* <onthelake2@tds.net>*,
715-445-2456*
*4th Annual Taste of Norway/Lost Arts Fair and Chamber Fall Craft & Gift
Show on Oct. 5 at Iola Historical Society*
Iola, WI: Watch Norwegian pastry making, lefse making, and Lost Arts
artisans ply their crafts at the 4th Annual Taste of Norway & Lost Arts
Fair to be held Saturday, October 5, at the Iola Historical Society at 210
Depot Street just west of downtown Iola. The event is free, and runs from
10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at the society’s Historic Iola Village complex.
*Proceeds from the event are being used to pay for the restoration of the
historic Iola & Northern Railroad depot, built in 1894. **Raffle tickets
are not available for sale by members and area businesses. Tickets will
also be available on site the day of the event. First prize is a one-night
stay at the Kalahari Resort in Wisconsin Dells, which was quite popular the
last time it was offered as a raffle grand prize. The second prize will be
$100 cash. There will be many other merchant provided prizes offered as
well. The price per raffle ticket is $5, as voted by the membership at the
last meeting**. The drawing will take place at 2:45 p.m. at the end of the
event. *
Taste of Norway provides visitors with tastes of Norwegian pastries as well
as demonstrations on how they are made. Members of the Northland Church
will explain and demonstrate how to make pastries ranging from lefse,
smultrenger (fry cakes), krumkaka, sandbakkels, rosettes, and fattigman.
Martha Cook and Bob Stamstad will be continuously demonstrating how to make
lefse, while the other cooking demonstrations will be staggered over the
timeframe of 11:00 a.m. until to 2:00 p.m. The pastries -- lefse, fry
cakes, cookie, and other homemade baked goods -- will be available to
purchase, while supplies last, and can be purchased in dozen and half-dozen
increments. “Taste Of Pastry” samples with coffee will also be availabl
e
for $1.50.
Iola’s famous Crystal Café will also be selling food such as their
delicious barbecued pulled pork sandwiches. Iola’s new bakery, Taste of
Elegance, will have bars, cookies and other tasty treats for sale.
The Iola Lions will be holding a brat fry, which includes their famous Iola
Lions Jumbo Hot Dog, with an option to have it placed in lefse rather than
a bun; bratwurst and cheddarwurst. The Lions will also be collecting used
eyeglasses and hearing aids with a donation drop-box located.
*Lost Arts Fair*
The popular Lost Arts Fair aspect of the event brings artisans to the
Village showing how things used to be done. Lost arts ranging from
rosemaling (Linda Kasten), blacksmithing (Clinte Danke, a.k.a. Rusty
Anvil), yarn spinning (Ryan Danke), jewelry making (Patty Kirschner),
sewing (Elizabeth Yeder), rugweaving (Gerry Johnson), basketweaving (Barb
Johnson); beekeeping (Leonard Haroldson), among others, will be
demonstrated. Some of the artisans have items for sale.
*Children’s activities*
Children’s activities will take place in the replica vintage one-room
schoolhouse, sponsored by the Sons Of Norway’s Norskeland Lodge 5-580 of
Iola. Dubbed “The Troll’s Workshop,” this year’s program is a surp
rise!
The children’s program lasts 45 minutes to an hour. Each new session star
ts
on the hour, starting at 10:00 am. Sons of Norway is also supplying a
vintage corn shucker, with plenty of corn cobs on hand so spectators can
shuck corn the old-fashion way!
*Chamber’s annual Fall Gift & Craft Show*
The Iola-Scandinavia Chamber of Commerce’s 15th Annual Fall Gift & Craft
Show includes vendors selling tasty home-made caramels; framed artwork
and pictures; unique jewelry, crafts; baby blankets, ponchos, aprons, and
kitchen towels; Alpaca caps, mittens and scarves; soy candles; stoneware
pottery; sketched portraits drawn on site; original design natural-colored
wood; handcrafted pins and magnets; lefse; standing sculptures; and
Victorian soaps, just to name a few of the items. At press time, there
were still a few open vendor spots. Contact Mary Schwartz at
mary@iolaoldcarshow.com or 715-445-4005 for availability.
*Tours of on-site historic buildings*
Iola Historical Society docents will provide information on the historic
buildings on the grounds, which include the Helvetia Town Hall; a replica
of Iola’s first fire station; replica of a one-room schoolhouse; a
circa-1920s log cabin,originally used locally by hunters; and a vintage
caboose. The society’s museum will also be open during the event. It
contains one of Wisconsin’s largest collections of native American
artifacts, vintage Norwegian immigrant items, the Stromberg violin
collection, and many other items of local history, including artifacts of
Lee Nelson, Iola’s “Humble Hero.” Nelson was a B-17 bomber pilot who
flew
missions over France and Germany in World War II, and his autobiography
published by the Iola Historical Society is available for sale at the
event, along with other local history books.
The newly named “Machine Shed” (222 Depot Street) contains vintage farm
ing
and manufacturing equipment used locally. The shed is where the Taste of
Norway food court will be located.
Rebekah and Annie Wierzchowski of Iola will be performing on violin during
the event. Rebeccas has been playing violin for 12 years and teaching it
for five years. Her younger sister Annie has been playing violin since she
was five, and also sings in a beautiful operatic voice. Both classically
trained, the duo will be performing classical pieces along with Norwegian
folk tunes, Irish jigs, fiddle pieces, and some musical/soundtrack solos. *
*
*
*Gary Larson will be showing a video, “A Trip Through Norwegian History,
”
in the Society’s museum building at 210 Depot Street. The film runs
approximately an hour, and will be shown continuously starting at 10:00
a.m., restarting on the hour.
*Free fire extinguisher check*
The Iola & Rural Fire Department will be holding its annual free fire
extinguisher check, usually held at the Iola Fire Department, at the 1901
vintage Iola fire station at the Iola Historic Village. Department
personnel will check and service personal handheld fire extinguishers to be
sure they are current for use and insurance purposes. The replica station
contains Iola’s first three pieces of firefighting apparatus, dating from
1913, 1926, and 1942. The department will also have one of their current
fire trucks on hand.
Vintage farm tractors owned by members of the 2-Cylinder Tractor Club will
also be on display throughout the Taste of Norway event.
Visitors can also take a nice fall walk along the new Iola Lions Riverwalk
that follows the Little Wolf River from North Main Street to Townline Road.
For more information on the event, go to www.iolahistoricalsociety,
www.ischamber.com, or visit the Iola-Scandinavia Chamber of Commerce on
Facebook.
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