Week Four | Bay City, WI to Harpers Ferry, IA: the next 170 miles
1pm, Thursday, August 6, 2020
Bay City, Pepin, Alma, Winona, Trempealeau, La Crosse, Lansing, Harpers Ferry
LANDSCAPE | River Crossings
Crossing the Mississippi River can be a smooth and safe passage over bridges with pedestrian walkways or a feat of human foolishness over open grate bridges with no shoulder. Crossing the river, though, is inevitable if you want to get to the other side.
COMMUNITY | Small Town, Big Welcome
Oftentimes the smallest communities make the biggest impact.
VOICE | Lee Salisbury
Chicago ad-man returned home to Alma, Wisconsin taking up woodworking and furniture-making in this quaint river town. Voice originally heard on the afternoon of August 3, 2019 at the Burlington Hotel and Quilt Shop in Alma, WI.
VOICE | Kelly Krieg-Sigman
Former La Crosse librian and historic “madame” impersonator. Voice originally heard on the afternoon of August 6, 2019 at Houghton’s Jackson Street Pub in La Crosse, WI.
Click here for original Week Four blog posts.
What an amazing hour (plus), coming together with ten of the most generous, insightful folks from our time on the river. In the week four Zoom, we received updates from Winona to Harpers Ferry, and even a write-in update from Bay City—just to know a little more specifically how life has changed this year from last. We all know the world has changed, but it’s so helpful to hear real stories from the people whose lives we’ve become a part of.
This week felt very much like a real reunion, and we’ve all agreed a true, in person reunion is very much needed AND in store when COVID is over. Lee Gundersheimer is claiming host rights in Winona! So wonderful to have him in attendance yesterday as well as Derva Burke and Ann Langford from Lansing, IA, Pat Stephens of La Crosse, WI, Ken Visger of La Crescent, MN, Sheila Diggins and Jane Hasek of Harpers Ferry, IA, Kathy Sweeney of Pepin/Stockholm, WI, Val Reinke of Allamakee County, and Aimee Ebersold Schult of Alma, WI.
Each week we want to take you on a journey on the river with us, much like we journeyed to you and with you last year. Listening, deeply, to communities, voices, and landscapes is how we organize these reunions, focusing on new themes and new voices every time. Week four was “small towns, big welcomes” (communities), “crossings” (landscapes), and a “voice” from Alma, WI. You can tune into all of it below in the video footage, and register for upcoming Zooms here.