Experience Lake Mendota through and learn about the canoes that have navigated Wisconsin’s waters for millennia.
On Tuesday, learn from Bill “Nąąwącekǧize” Quackenbush, tribal historic preservation officer of the Ho-Chunk Nation, and Amy Rosebrough, state archaeologist, about Ho-Chunk dugout canoes and knowledge about water, food, language, and ecology at a talk at the outdoor classroom in Alumni Park from 12pm-1pm. From 1pm – 2pm, participants will also have the opportunity to engage the water and paddle alongside a Ho-Chunk dugout canoe as a flotilla on Lake Mendota. Finally, on Tuesday only, from 1:30pm – 2:45pm, learn about the vital connection between water, watercraft, and Indigenous foodways at a corn braiding and wild rice parching demonstration by Dan Cornelius, outreach program manager of the Great Lakes Indigenous Law Center.
On Thursday, we will repeat Tuesday’s events, but this time center and learn about Ojibwe birchbark canoes from canoe builder Mino-giizhig (Wayne Valliere) and Tom DuBois, Halls-Bascom Professor of Scandinavian Folklore, Folklore, and Religious Studies. Join us at the outdoor classroom in Alumni Park for a public talk from 12pm – 1pm, and then take to Lake Mendota in canoes in a second flotilla alongside an Ojibwe birchbark canoe from 1pm-2pm!
Please contact oursharedfuture@wisc.edu with any questions or accessibility needs.