Visit the "Harvesting Traditions" Exhibit

Harvesting activities mark the times of the year for many. Something is always in season: maple syrup in spring, berries in summer, whitetail deer in fall, fish in winter. Harvesting Traditions invites visitors to explore both contemporary and historic hunting, fishing, and gathering practices in the Chippewa Valley.

People have harvested wild plants and animals in the region for many different purposes:  for food, for income, and for fun. These purposes often overlap. This exhibit highlights a few examples of wild harvesting traditions from the past and present, and invites visitors to explore these living traditions practiced across cultures, generations, and genders.

Visitors to Harvesting Traditions can learn about spearing fish through lake ice, trapping muskrats in the forest, and knocking wild rice in "fields" that grow on select regional lakes. Visitors will also get to try several fun activities from exploring wild food recipes to going on a scavenger hunt for harvesting artifacts in the museum's adjacent exhibit Changing Currents.

The exhibit will be open through September 2019.

The exhibit is supported in part by Xcel Energy and a grant from the Wisconsin Arts Board, with funds from the State of Wisconsin and the National Endowment for the Arts.