This
past Saturday, Ruth and I helped Dregne’s celebrate 40 years on Westby’s Main
Street. When Dave and Jana Dregne
bought the corner building in 1975, it was a full service hardware store with
nuts and bolts and ropes and wrenches and all the rest that makes up a hardware
store.
But now,
40 years later, it’s a gift shop worthy of a destination visit. Not just a gift shop either, but a
Scandinavian gift shop that shines a bright light on Westby’s Norwegian
heritage. If you want authentic Norwegian
sweaters and a lefse grill or maybe some Swedish clogs and pair of Scandinavian
mittens, this is the place. And much,
much more of course.
An enormous
crowd trailed through the store on Saturday, coming from near and far. A bus load of Norwegians arrived, 40 of them,
each one with a camera and a smile. I
spent 15 minutes talking with a fellow from Oslo about Wisconsin’s barns and silos,
and comparing pictures in my book about barns with Norwegian barns that he knew.
Dregne’s
also have a wide selection of books by local authors, and not so local—I was
there signing books, sharing a table with Tomah author, Larry Scheckel.
It was a
busy, interesting day.
THE OLD
TIMER SAYS: No matter what your ethnic background, a visit to Dregne’s in
Westby is a fun experience—even for this old German.
BOOK OF
THE WEEK:
NORWEGIANS
IN WISCONSIN, by Richard J. Fapso (Wisconsin Historical Society Press). The book begins with the mass movement of
Norwegians to Wisconsin in 1837 and continues with the history of this second
most popular ethnic group in the state.
Purchase Jerry’s
DVDS and his Books from the Patterson Memorial Library in Wild Rose, Wisconsin
(a fund raiser for them):
The
library now has available signed copies of Jerry’s DVDs, Emmy Winner, A Farm Winter with Jerry Apps and Jerry Apps a Farm Story.
Also
available are several of Jerry’s signed books including The Quiet Season (on which the DVD A Farm Winter is based), as well as Rural Wit and Wisdom and Old
Farm, (which are related to the DVD Jerry
Apps a Farm Story). Also available is Jerry’s new novel, The Great Sand Fracas of Ames County as
well as Whispers and Shadows and his
newest nonfiction book, Wisconsin
Agriculture: A History.
Contact
the library for prices and special package deals.
Patterson
Memorial Library
500 Division Street
UPCOMING
EVENTS:
October
4, 1-3 p.m. Readers Realm bookstore,
Montello. Ag. History
October
7, 6:30 p.m. Reedsburg Library, Whispers and Shadows
October
11, 10-12:00 a.m. Heartland Forum,
Chicago.
October
11, 3:00 p.m. Old World Wisconsin-Wisconsin Ag. History
October
12, 6:00 p.m. Coloma Historical Society.
Limping Through Life
October
15, Prairie du Sac Library, Whispers and Shadows
October
17, 9-4 Teaching writing workshop at The Clearing, Ellison Bay, WI
October
17, 4:30-6:00 p.m. The Clearing. Book
signing, Whispers and Shadows, Wisconsin Agriculture: A History.
October
23, 10-11:00 a.m. Wisconsin Historical Society Museum (on the square). Whispers
and Shadows. Wisconsin Book Festival.
October
23, 3:30 p.m. Wisconsin Historical Society Auditorium (On UW Campus) Wisconsin
Agriculture: A History. Wisconsin Book Festival.
October
25, 2:00 p.m. Schlitz Nature Center, Milwaukee with Boswell Books. Whispers and Shadows.
October
29, Brown County Library. Premier of TV
Documentary,” The Land With Jerry Apps. “ Book signing, Whispers and Shadows.
November
1, 2:00 p.m. Gard Theater, Spring Green. Ag History and Wisconsin Place Names
(a Robert Gard book).
November
5, 7:00 p.m. Baraboo Library, Whispers and Shadows.
November
7, Edgerton Book Festival, The Land (TV documentary) and Whispers and Shadows
November
10, 6:00 p.m. Wausau Public Library, Wisconsin Agriculture: A History.
November
12, 7:00 p.m. Bellville High School Auditorium with Bellville Public
Library. Wisconsin Agriculture: A
History
November
14, 9:30 -11:30 a.m. Sheboygan County Historical Research Center. Wisconsin Agriculture: A History.
November
15, 9:15 Midvale Lutheran Church, The Land (TV documentary) plus discussion of Whispers and Shadows.
November
17, 7:00 p.m. Hotel Red (1501 Monroe Street- corner of Regent and Monroe,
Madison.) “Wisconsin Agriculture: A
History, a discussion with Doug Moe. Sponsored by Mystery to me Bookstore. Book signing to follow.
November
18, Preview of TV Documentary, “The Land With Jerry Apps” Wild Rose High School
Auditorium. Whispers and Shadows book
signing. (Time to be announced)
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