Columns
Local Historians | The Old Rail Fence
Service clubs play part in Lake Country
As long as there have been small towns there have been service clubs: Community Fathers, Community Mothers, Lions Club, volunteer fire departments and auxiliaries, Future Farmers of America and many others. As soon as a school was built a PTA was formed to provide outside activities such as plays, picnics and all types of fundraisers to benefit the school. That has evolved into the PBC or Parents Booster Club which serves the same purpose.
One club that has remained fairly consistent in both standards and requirements is the 4-H Club. The 4-H Club of North Lake was formed in 1953 with officers made up of young people and Gerald Quinn as general leader.
The 4-H Club was part of the County Extension Service, which is sponsored jointly by the Federal Extension Service of the United States Department of Agriculture, the College of Agriculture of the University of Wisconsin and the County Board of Supervisors. The purpose of the club is to help members acquire knowledge, skills and attitudes for a future satisfying work experience whether in farming, raising a family, working outside the home or just hobby type endeavors such as quilting, sewing, building furniture, painting, drawing and any other interests. Remember, in 1953 very few people had televisions making it imperative to provide young people with knowledge and skills through practical experience.
Almost every young person joined the 4-H Club as soon as they were old enough. Mothers and fathers were the teachers of the groups, which the club sponsored, and met at least once a week to work on the various projects. Being primarily farm communities there were many projects involving livestock, poultry and pets, as well as crops, garden and yard upkeep, nature, dog training, leathercraft, gun safety and cooking and canning.
In addition to project work, the club members have lots of good times. They have picnics, parties and ball games and go ice skating, roller skating and swimming. One memorable event about 35 years ago was a musical the club put on about the food groups. The costumes were all hand made, songs written by the students and directed by students. The group from North Lake ended up in the finals at Arrowhead High School where they won first place.
The Waukesha County Fair which is now held at the Expo Center in Waukesha, was once held in an old building next to Discount Liquor on Barstow Street, also in Waukesha. The main floor had a large ring roped off for showing cattle, horses, dogs, sheep and goats, pigs and all types of livestock. Surrounding that were tables displaying the works by the students - one such project being a replica of the old feed mill in North Lake made totally out of either matchsticks or toothpicks. It definitely won a blue ribbon. The groups vied for the best cake, cookie, pie, jam or other recipe prizes. The display of vegetables trying for the largest, heaviest, reddest or what have you, took up one end of the building.
Now it's all held in the livestock buildings at the expo center and is often overshadowed by the carnival rides, games, stage shows and other distractions. When it was downtown in Waukesha there was no admission fee and the kids brought bag lunches for the day. Now a bratwurst can run up to $6, and that's after you have paid to enter the grounds and park. It is still a wonderful experience to walk through the buildings, have an ice cream cone or a cream puff while you view all the beautiful things these young hands and minds have created.
Biweekly in Living, the two authors of this column provide photos and articles featuring tidbits from the past to help Lake Country readers better understand and appreciate their roots. Penny Williams focuses on Pewaukee and Jeanne Ann Frederickson on Merton.- Pewaukee was bicentennial community
- Pageant shone spotlight on Pewaukee highlights
- The Baptist Church - Merton
- Shears was early settler in Merton
- What's in a name?
- Steele family left legacy in Pewaukee
- Life of the Lions Club
- Pewaukeean Steele served in Assembly
- The olde sweet shoppe
- Hanson's: More than a century of tavern history
- What is Jobie Hole?
- Akin was last Civil War vet in Pewaukee
- Minnie's poem
- Steamboats popular ride on Pewaukee Lake
- Update on Tamarack Tech
- Tamarack School
- Pewaukee history preserved thanks to woman
- Historical home replaced by gravel pit
- A time gone by
- Origins of the Hartland Public Library
E-mail Newsletter
Top stories from the Lake Country area. Tuesday afternoons and Thursday mornings.
Enter your e-mail address above and click "Sign Up Now!" to begin receiving your e-mail newsletter
Get the Newsletter!
MORE: See full gallery
SUBMIT: Post Your Photos now
Do you have news or a nonprofit event that you would like to share with the community? Whether it's a community organization, a business, a local school, or a notable neighbor, we'd love to hear about it.
- Winter Services, Inc. Hires General Manager
- Hamilton students score high in W!SE Financial Literacy Certification
- Lake Country Clean Water Festival Makes a Splash
- Palmyra-Eagle Students Studying Abroad
- Express Employment Professionals Awarded “Best of Staffing”
- First annual Village Extreme to be held June 22, 2013 in Brookfield Village
- Good Shepherd Lutheran Church Annual Picnic
- FREE Week- Basketball Academy
MORE: See the rest of Your Stories
SUBMIT: Post Your Story now
Lake Country residents share their views on news, happenings and current events.
LivingLakeCountry.com features more than a dozen community bloggers - a group of volunteer conversation leaders who are up on the latest topics and never short on an opinion. Just a few are pictured here. Check out the rest and see what they have to say!
View All Blogs
Discussion Guidelines
Do you want to become a Community Blogger? LivingLakeCountry.com welcomes your thoughts and opinions. Contact us for more information:
I want to blog
Information on Mukwonago Publications
Find metroparent locations
We encourage your comments but will strive to remove discussion that contains personal attacks, racial slurs, profanity or other inappropriate material as outlined in our guidelines. We post-moderate comments on most content, but may choose to pre-moderate some comments so please be patient if you don't see yours appear right way. We also ask for your help by reporting comments you think are inappropriate.
Please login or register to post a comment.