Local News

Visitors to the Driftless Area Art Festival, Sept. 19 and 20, will find every kind of art, the decorative as well as the functional, the edible as well as the musical. They’ll have their pick of the works of 83 visual artists from across the Driftless region. Some will be long-time favorites and some will be new to the festival.

They’ll also see a lot of new musical talent and new culinary artists, as well as popular returning artists. And they’ll see artwork by hundreds of elementary and high school students displayed in the annual KidsArt and Teen Art Galleries.

Among the visual artists is Hannah Heyer, who was voted the festival’s 2014 People’s Choice award winner. She does a lot of her painting outdoors, in the plein air style. She sometimes sits atop a round hay bale to paint. “A hay bale is fairly comfortable, smells nice, and you can jab your brushes in anywhere,” said the Dakota, Minn., artist. “And it comes with a view.”

By Correne Martin

Eating healthy, being active and having access to wellness resources are the focus of Healthy Roots of Crawford County, a coalition that began in 2014 with the intent to promote healthy living. The organization has had a busy year of offering healthy opportunities for local residents.

“Our goal is to make the healthy choice the easy choice,” said Healthy Roots member Kathleen Hein, who represents Driftless Wisconsin Grown.

Among the Healthy Roots-funded initiatives making a wholesome impact in Crawford County this spring and summer were: a gardening workshop targeted at day care providers, an Active School mini grant that provided more opportunities for students to be active, and a parks and playgrounds exploration challenge for families. A community resource guide was also developed to assist the public.

Celebrate Driftless Wisconsin Grown’s fourth annual harvest dinner on Saturday, Sept. 12 at Gatherings on the Ridge, a newly-renovated rustic barn just north of Eastman on Highway 27.

Talented chef, Mark Oppermann, of Sharing Spaces Kitchen, will cater this local foods event. Appetizers include cheese and vegetable kabobs, endive lettuce cups with mushrooms and wild rice, fall harvest salsa, and Prairie Earth Organic baked tortilla chips. An apple harvest salad features spinach, quinoa, apples, pumpkin seeds, dried cranberries, and pecans. A garam masala pumpkin soup with crispy chorizo and glazed apples will be served as well. The delicious entree includes a pork loin roast with cranberry and walnut stuffing and a roasted butternut squash ravioli with hazelnut cream sauce. A dessert of cheesecake stuffed baked apples will top off the delicious meal.