Wisconsin Off the Beaten Path® by Martin Hintz & PAM PERCY

Author:Martin Hintz & PAM PERCY
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780762786190
Publisher: Globe Pequot Press

Larry the Logroller is Wabeno’s famous attraction. The statue of a timber cutter stands 21 feet 9 inches tall, symbolizing the area’s main industry as well as providing a mascot for the town’s high school sports teams. The statue is next to the Wabeno High School band shell in town. Straight-backed Larry looks a little stiff, as if he has been chopping wood too long, but he’s a good backdrop for a family portrait.

Laona is in the heart of the Nicolet National Forest, where many local loggers still work—cutting out about 200,000 cords of hardwood per year. The wood is sent to mills in the Fox River Valley to the south. The Nicolet Forest encompasses about 651,000 acres, within which are the headwaters for the Wolf, Pine, Popple, Oconto, and Peshtigo Rivers. The Nicolet was named after Jean Nicolet, the French explorer who “discovered” Wisconsin in 1634.

While in the Nicolet Forest, look for the MacArthur Pine, named for the famed general. The tree is one of the oldest in the nation, standing 148 feet high and with a circumference of 17 feet. The tree was old when Nicolet and his voyageurs were first finding their way to the southlands some 300 years ago. To find the tree, turn north onto Highway 139 just as you leave the village of Cavour to the west. (Cavour is 8 miles north of Laona on Highway 8.) Continue to Forest Road 2166 near Newald and turn west to FR 2167. Make a sharp turn north, and you’ll spot the pine towering above its neighbors.

Laona has been putting on a Community Soup (www.laonahistory.com/LaonaCommunitySoupPage.html) annually for the 70-plus years, the first Sunday of every August. Townsfolk donate the ingredients for the homemade vegetable soup, made in large cast-iron pots over an open fire. The only requirement for eating is that you bring your own bowl and spoon. Some of the fun is coming to the city park to watch the preparations, which begin about 6 a.m. The soup is simmered until noon, when serving starts. The recipe includes some secret ingredients, but generally it contains fresh onions, carrots, celery, potatoes, beans, and whatever else might be in the garden. The Soup is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The soup-serving tradition started years ago when neighbors got together for a friendly outing. The attendance grew so large that the Laona Lions Club took over operations a few years ago to help coordinate the event.

Laona is also home to the Camp Five Lumberjack Train, a steam train that operates Mon through Sat from June to late August. Camp Five is a typical turn-of-the-20th-century lumber camp, with an environmental hike nearby and a country store on the grounds at the junction of Highways 8 and 32 (715-674-3414 in summer or 800-774-3414; www.camp5museum.org). The train ride through the woods is fun, giving kids the chance to see a working locomotive up close. Tickets are $19 for adults, $8 for children 4 to 12, and free for tykes 3 and younger.

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